


Saints Row 2 (novelization)

by The_Head_In_Charge



Series: Saints Row series [2]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Arms Dealing, Drug Dealing, Drug Use, Drugs, Evil Corporations, Gang Violence, Gang warfare, Gangs, Gen, Gunplay, Punk, Voodoo, Voodoo doll, Yakuza
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:02:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27185594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Head_In_Charge/pseuds/The_Head_In_Charge
Summary: Novelization of Saints Row 2. Five years after the 3rd Street Saints made their presence known in Stilwater and also a major bombing of a yacht, the Saints had only become a memory. Fortunately, after Vince Shane wakes up from his coma, he decides to take back the city. In those five years, three new gangs had made their presence known, as did a powerful corporation. Can the Saints prove that they are as strong as they once were?
Series: Saints Row series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1982320
Kudos: 2





	1. Jailbreak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am with this one as well. Like I had noted in the foreword for the Saints Row 1 novelization, I will do this concurrently with 1 and 3. I will what I can. I also will note that I will put my own spin on things and regarding what I will do about the gangs, I will decide on how I will do them.
> 
> Also, because the Boss/Playa will be based on the SR3 one, I will make up any other dialogue. Why? Because this was before Troy Baker did one of the voices. I'll come up with some stuff.
> 
> If you have any questions, leave them in a comment. Enjoy!

_Five years after the bombing of Alderman Hughes's yacht, no one was left alive…except for one man. That man was Vince Shane, a high-ranking member of the 3rd Street Saints. As soon as the bomb was about to go off, he thought ahead, ran and jumped off the yacht as the explosion occurred._

_However, in different ways, he wasn't completely lucky. His body was found floating in the water after the explosion, but by strange luck, he still had a pulse and his heart raced quickly. They quickly took him to hospital, but it wasn't just any hospital…_

At the Stilwater Prison, a Caucasian guard went on a break and put it on "The Anna Show," a popular talk show. He sat in the break room and watched as the show's host had a special guest, a businessman named Dane Vogel. In the five years that happened since the Saints' rise to power and their immediate fall from grace, three new gangs had formed and/or found their way to Stilwater to fill the voids that any of the previous gangs had left.

The guard had changed channels. Whether it was another news program that had the host and a guest debating how a Stilwater police officer had taken down a gang but seemed to have gone into deep cover as well. As well as news programs talking about the gangs' new presence and what they have done in the years since the big gang war, as well as the demises of Marshall Winslow, Chief Monroe, and Alderman Hughes.

He once again put it on "The Anna Show," where it appeared that the interview with Vogel was drawing to a close. Out of nowhere, an older black guard walked into the break room.

"Hey," the black guard said. The white guard turned his attention towards the other man.

"You'll never guess who has woken up," the black guard said.

The white guard used the remote control to turn off the TV and got to his feet.

"You're shitting me," the white guard said.

"Come see for yourself," the black guard said and gave him the "come on" signal.

"How long has it been?" the white guard said.

"Years, I stopped keeping track a while ago," the black guard said.

"Shit, I can't believe how long it's been," the white guard said.

"Time flies when you're watching someone breathe through a tube," the black guard said.

The two guards exited the break room and walked down a flight of stairs. They had to go see what was in store for them, especially since no one expected anything like this to happen.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, how's the family?" the white guard said.

"Well, my wife's been seeing an Ultor exec," the black guard said. "And my daughter sits in her room listening to Aisha albums all day."

The black guard punched in a code on a keypad to open a gate, while the white guard ran his nightstick across the bars of said gate.

"For a dead woman, she sure releases a lot of albums," the white guard said.

"No shit," the black guard said.

"God, that was one hell of a year, Alderman Hughes, Mayor Winslow, Aisha, Chief Monroe, that whole damn gang war," the white guard said as he and the guard walked through the halls.

"All of those people, murdered by that asshole who's been on life support on tax payers' money," the black guard said.

The white guard punched in the code on another keypad to open another gate.

"Troy said he wouldn't pull the plug," the white guard said as the two walked through the other gate.

"Lord knows why," the black guard said.

"Has anyone even called the chief?" the white guard said.

"Couldn't reach him," the black guard said. "The press has been flooding him with phone calls."

The two continued to talk as they walked on by with what appeared to be a prison brawl escalating. There had been talk about something big going down that day.

The two walked into the infirmary, the white guard asked a female nurse how the patient was doing.

The nurse replied, "Seeing as he's still breathing after being caught in a massive explosion, I'd say pretty well. It's amazing how he managed to get off the boat in time, but the impact of the blast says otherwise."

"Coming through!" a female voice yelled. The two guards and the nurse looked up and saw a female nurse running and rolling a stretcher with a young man on it, in an orange prison jumpsuit and a purple skull cap.

"What happened?" the nurse said. The other nurse replied that a shanking had occurred. The main nurse told the other nurse to set the stretcher right next to the patient.

"Have they said anything yet?" the black guard said.

"Not yet, but I'm about to remove the bandages off the patient," the main nurse said.

It didn't take long for the nurse to take off the bandages. It was revealed that the patient was Vince Shane, formerly of the 3rd Street Saints. All three people were intrigued. The main nurse noted that he had "healed nicely." Vince looked like he didn't have much burns or scars on his face, but that didn't mean he wasn't burned in the blast, either.

"Be careful, doctor, the patient is dangerous," the white guard said.

The black guard looked directly at Vince in the eye. With a stern tone, he let it out.

"If there's anything you got to say to the judge, now's the time to think about it."

"You're wasting your time," the white guard said, cutting in. "Let's call Troy right now."

Vince lied on his back looking up at the ceiling. He knew that he was responsible for many deaths years prior. There was no way he would be getting out of this. That was until…

"Psst, hey," a male voice with a light Spanish accent said. It sounded like it came from nearby.

The curtain to his right opened. It was the young man from before, who appeared to be Hispanic, probably Mexican or any other nationality from Central America.

"Is it really you?" the young man said. "Are you Vince Shane, also known as 'the Playa'?"

"Do I know you?" Vince said.

"My brother was in the Saints and he told me all about you," the young man said. "I'm Carlos, by the way. Listen, we got to get you out of here."

"Well, I'm sure we ask nicely…," Vince said.

"I know a way out," Carlos said.

"Really? Then why are you still here?" Vince said.

"I heard you were in here and I wanted to bust you out," Carlos said.

Vince looked at him with an expression of "Are you serious?" and then turned his head and dropped it onto the hospital pillow.

"Getting out of here is a two-man job, maybe even more and no one else will give it a try," Carlos said.

"You actually expect me to trust some guy I don't even know?" Vince said.

"Come on, I just got myself shanked so I could get a chance to talk to you," Carlos said. "Doesn't that show I'm loyal?"

Vince replied, "It shows that you're dumb enough to let yourself get stabbed."

"First off, I didn't really get stabbed, I faked it," Carlos said. "Second, I'm trying to help you."

"You know what happened the last time I trusted someone?" Vince said. "I got blown the fuck up."

"You need me on this, trust me and I won't blow your ass up or anything like that," Carlos said.

"The hell I do, I got the Saints," Vince said.

Carlos chuckled. "Sure you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vince said.

"Tell me one thing, how long do you think you've been out?" Carlos said.

"I don't know, maybe two or three weeks?" Vince said.

"Look, I know you think you're a badass, but do you even know you're at?" Carlos said. "Without me, you'll be wandering around the prison for hours. Even if you manage to hide from the guards that long, and if you actually figure out how to make it outside these walls, you're just going to find out that you're sitting on a goddamn island. And I'm sure you can't out-swim the Coast Guard."

"Okay, do you have a boat stashed here?" Vince said.

"No, but I know where we can get one," Carlos said. "Trust me on this."

"Okay, let's get out of here," Vince said.

Much to his own surprise, he was able to get up. It was like he was able to move his body without anybody trying to guide him, and usually it takes time to go through some therapy after waking from a coma. There was no time for that, though. It was time to break out of jail.

Vince saw that a male doctor standing next to a counter. Knowing that if he and Carlos would get out, the doctor will call attention. Vince ran right to him and as soon as he turned around, Vince laid a hard right to his face and grabbed him by the head and drove it to the counter, knocking him out. Carlos told him that they could either sneak out through the front or the roof.

Vince and Carlos headed straight for the main door that the two guards came in through.

"Let's get to the docks, I'll get us out of here," Carlos said. "I can't believe I'm breaking out of jail with you."

"I'm sure everyone wanted to do that," Vince said. "Let's go."

A loud high-pitched sound wailed. Several guards came running towards the two men. Two male guards and one female guard, they had nightsticks. One of them tried to swing, but Vince quickly dodged and delivered a hard punch to the gut. He picked up the nightstick and swung it at the female guard. The other guard, however, attacked Carlos and he dropped from it. Carlos got on the ground but kicked the guard in the leg and as soon as he got to his feet, he delivered a swift kick in between that guard's legs.

As soon as they were all down, the two men saw that the guards were carrying Vice 9 pistols. They immediately went to pick them up, especially since it wouldn't be long until any other guards would be packing heat.

"Do you remember my brother?" Carlos said.

"Probably, I ran with a lot of guys," Vince said. "But maybe, what was his name?"

"His name is Javier Mendoza," Carlos said. "Haven't talked to him lately, though. So are what are you going to do when you get out?"

"How about we get out and not get shot and then we worry about it?" Vince said.

There were two ways to go about it – through the front or through the roof. Knowing that the place would have helicopters flying around, Vince felt that the front would be safer. He led Carlos to a gate that led to another hallway. There was a door to the right. They cut right to the door. As soon as it opened, they were outside, but now some guards and cops have come.

"Shit!" Vince said.

"I know where to go, follow me," Carlos said.

A couple of guards came out wielding Tombstone shotguns. It was clear that they wouldn't survive the shots head on. Vince and Carlos opened fire on the guards. Vince let out a couple of shots to a guard's chest and then a third right to the head. Carlos fired a couple of shots as well. He was lucky that they managed to land, even though they were on limbs. Vince came in and fired a shot to that guard's dome. The two quickly picked up the Tombstone shotguns and went on their way.

Carlos saw a gate that was across the way. The two ran down the stairs. Carlos used the shotgun to fire at any guard who got in his way. Vince still used the Vice 9 and dropped a few guards, as long as he aimed at any vitals or any limbs that what affect their ability to move. As soon as they got to the bottom, Carlos led Vince across the yard where some grass and a big rock was. There was that gate.

"Come on," Carlos said.

One the other side of the gate was a prison bus. The docks were a bit of a distance away. They wouldn't make it if they got there on foot. Vince ran to the cab of the bus and opened the door. Carlos quickly got on. Lucky for Vince, the key was still in the ignition. He started it up and they were on there way.

"How about I drive?" Carlos said. "Keep them off my back."

"You got it," Vince said.

Carlos got in the driver's seat and stepped on the gas and turned to head down the road. He was not about to stop for nothing. He quickly made a turn onto the slope. A lot of cop cars were blocking the road.

"Hold on a sec," Carlos said and stomped hard on the gas. Even though this bus wasn't exactly a fast vehicle, it was likely to maybe move some cars out of the way. The bus went as fast as it could and rammed one of the cars and turned it a bit and went through a chain-link gate.

Carlos continued to drive, with many guards firing at it, as well as a helicopter flying over it yelling for it to stop. As soon as they found the docks, they quickly got off the bus and went some stairs and found a boat.

Carlos told Vince to man the gun, while he would drive it out of there. When they got on, Vince saw a cellphone lying around, an Ill Wireless phone at that. He picked up and put it in one of his pockets. Vince got to the turret gun as Carlos started up the boat and they started sailing on the water.

But it wasn't the end of it. A couple of police boats emerged from a cave at the base of the island, and the same helicopter now flew over the water. It was time to make it to shore, to the mainland if you will. Vince fired so many rounds at any police chopper and boat he could see. Carlos kept on driving the boat as fast as he could. Even he knew that this was no speedboat.

After he cleared everything out, he looked around the city. Some of it looked the same, some looked different, and one part definitely looked different than how he remembered it. It was only in the after hours, but some parts of Stilwater had a lot of colorful lights, like downtown and the hotels and marina district.

But this area did not resemble anything he remembered. He got to the bow of the boat to get a closer look.

"That's the Row?" Vince said.

"It is now," Carlos said.

"Damn, when did this happen?" Vince said.

"When Ultor got involved," Carlos said.

"The clothing company?" Vince said.

"Let me tell you something," Carlos said. "After Hughes was killed in that bomb that you were in, Ultor picked up all the pieces. Now they're everywhere, on TV, on billboards, in stores. Shit, if you ever forget who Ultor is, all you have to do is look towards Saint's Row and you'll see that fucking eyesore."

Carlos pointed right at the tallest building in Saint's Row. It was black and had an orange glow around it, like it had orange lighting on it.

"Man, that's fucked up," Vince said, after coming to a realization of the time that had passed since he had been in a coma.

Carlos pulled up next to a dock. They both got off the boat and started walking.

"Where can I find the other Saints?" Vince said.

"What other Saints?" Carlos said.

"What do you mean?" Vince said.

"Without a leader, the Saints fell apart," Carlos said. "Once the Brotherhood, Ronin, and Sons of Samedi showed up, anybody left dropped their flags before they got killed, got put in jail, or maybe blew town, if they were lucky on that last part."

"Well that's fucking great," Vince said.

"Look, I know you didn't ask for it, but my advice is to keep out of sight and your head down," Carlos said. "The cops will look for you and shit has changed. I'd say you just go buy a beer and find any information as you can."

"Thanks, Carlos," Vince said.

"No problem," Carlos said. "I'll go see if my brother is still around or at least find any old friends. I need to lie low myself. I took a phone off one of the guards. I'll give you a number to reach me."

"Sure thing, I took this off the boat," Vince said.

After they exchanged numbers, Carlos walked off. It was now time for Vince to keep a low profile and see how much had changed.


	2. Appointed Defender

Right after he and Carlos got off the boat and split up, Vince had no choice but to find his own way around. He was in Sunnyvale Gardens. It looked similar to how he remembered, except he felt that there was something different about it.

First thing he had to do was get himself some new clothes. It was already suspicious that he would be walking around in an orange jumpsuit. He some pimps roaming around the area. He ran right towards the man and knocked him and kicked him while he was down and search his pants to find his wallet. Once he found it, he took $500 out and looked around and saw a Compton driving by and stopped the car, drove the driver's head into the steering wheel and pulled him out and took the car.

 _Man, I need some new clothes._ Vince thought. _I wonder if that Sloppy Seconds is still around._

Though it had been five years since he roamed the streets of Stilwater, he didn't forget about where some places were. He drove and looked around until he found the store. It was definitely in a poor part of town, but it looked the same as he remembered.

He went inside and picked out a pair of black jeans and a purple and black football jersey, along with a black and white baseball cap with a purple brim. Though the Saints were done, he was still willing to rock the colors. He paid for his clothes and left with them on. He put the prison jumpsuit in a garbage can that was close by. He got back in the car and went on his way. Because he had been in a coma, not to mention in prison, there was one place he wanted to check out.

He took off to Rebadeaux. He remembered that there was a strip club there that he often went to called Tee'N'Ay. Some of these roads started to feel familiar to him, but it still had been quite a bit. So he used the GPS on the phone he stole and found Tee'N'Ay on the map and was on his way.

When he managed to find the place, the surrounding area looked different than he remembered. Though the underpass was still there, that building that was right next to the strip club was gone. It was now a parking lot. Hell, the entrance to the strip club was now on the corner and the area had a lot of neon lights and gazebos on what looked like the boardwalk.

 _Man, how long was I out again?_ Vince thought. Nonetheless, he parked the car on a parking space and went right to the strip club. It was morning, so business was slow. Sure, places like this were open 24 hours, but more often than not, strip clubs usually have "their best attractions" at night when people are likely out. Very few dancers were on stage. Hell, the bartender was focused on what was on TV. The same program caught Vince's eye, too. Vince sat down and signaled to the bartender to have a beer, didn't matter which kind.

_"Some have referred to this as the trial of the century. A notorious member of a gang once known as 'The 3rd Street Saints,' Johnny Gat was arrested last year in assassination attempt on then-decorated police officer Troy Bradshaw. In the resulting trial, Gat was convicted of one count of attempted murder, and a staggering 387 counts of first degree murder, quickly putting him on death row."_

Vince watched the news program with reporter Jane Valderamma giving her report, talking about how Gat's legal team had filed one appeal after another. Out of the blue, a white guy in a red leather vest and red pants with a white shirt walked up. He carried a bottle as well.

"Hey, Barry, change this shit, will ya?" the man said. "Better yet, turn it off."

Vince turned to the man. "Hey, I was watching that."

"Well, it looks you're not anymore, are you, bitch?" the man said.

Without hesitation, Vince gripped the neck of the man's bottle and swung the bottle across his face, hard enough that the glass shattered and the man fell backwards on his chair to the floor.

"Hey, could you put it back on the news?" Vince said. The bartender gladly complied and put the news back on. Jane Valderamma continued her report.

_"In a few short moments, we will be allowed to enter the courtroom and we will see once and for all if Mr. Gat will go home a happy man or a dead man. Back to you, Jack."_

After Vince took another swig, he realized what this all meant. It was time to save his friend. Right when he was about to leave, another man with a similar get up to the man Vince knocked down tended to the man who had regained consciousness.

"Hey, asshole!" said the other man in red. He appeared to Hispanic.

Vince turned around as soon as he heard that man talk. "I don't know you, man. I'm not here for you. Let's not do this."

"Shut the fuck up, you hit my brother," the man said. The other man got up and looked ready to fight.

Knowing that there was no time to waste, Vince picked up a barstool and clocked the same guy from before in the face, knocking him down once again. He remembered the other guy and threw the stool in that man's face. Whether they were out or what, it didn't matter. All he wanted to do was save his friend.

He ran right through the hallway to get out of the strip club. Two more men dressed in red, in a similar style came walking in. They looked up and saw Vince run.

"Hey, guys, get that asshole!" By some kind of miracle, one of the two red-clad guys that Vince knocked down called attention to the other two who were entering the strip club. Could they be part of one of the new gangs that was controlling Stilwater?

The two gang members ran after him, but Vince quickly got into the Compton he took and started up and got out of there. It was time to head to the courthouse to make sure Johnny does not get the chair.

The Compton was not a racer, but Vince drove as fast he could. There was no telling how much longer the trial could go for. He crossed the bridge and drove down Brighton. The courthouse was not far from there as it was located on Adept Way.

Vince looked at rearview mirror and saw red Swindle driving behind him. Could it have been those two guys who happened to have entered and decided to go after him? Whatever it was, Vince was now at the courthouse, with two news vans parked by the front steps. It was now time to go in.

He had the Vice 9 that he took from the prison on him, but no extra ammo. It was better than nothing. He went inside and went up the stairs that were to the left. Several people in suits walked around. He went to look for the courtroom Johnny was being tried at. It didn't take long, as some security guards were seen standing on a balcony close to a hallway. It had to have been it.

* * *

Inside a courtroom, an older African-American female judge looked at some images found in a binder that relate to the case that Johnny was being tried for.

"Mr. Gat, you've been convicted of more than 300 murders, do you really expect this appeal to work?" the judge said.

Johnny, who still had flat-top haircut, but had more of a grayish white, almost silver dye-job on top wore a black pinstripe suit with a purple shirt and black tie. He was also handcuffed. He stood there with Legal Lee, an African-American lawyer in a beige suit. He was likely Johnny's lawyer on this case.

"I figure with the statute of limitations, it should really be closer to 250," Johnny said.

"There's no statute of limitations for murder!" the judge said.

"Why the fuck not?" Johnny said.

"Watch yourself, Mr. Gat," the judge said.

"Or what, you'll hold me in contempt of court?" Johnny said. "You're already planning on giving me the chair. You think I give a shit about you not liking me? Fuck off."

The judge banged her gavel. "I'm curious if you can keep your cavalier attitude when 2,000 volts are running through your body."

"Oh yeah?" Johnny said. "And I'm curious if you can keep acting like a douche-bag when I shove that gavel up your ass."

Legal Lee said, "My client would like that stricken from the record."

BANG! BANG! Suddenly, everything went full stop. The judge looked up, wondering what that was. A crop drew his gun and slowly walked towards the nearby door, as the sounds came from the other side. The wooden door knocked over, as it looked to be broken off the hinges and fell right onto the security guard. It was Vince, and he picked up the guard's NR4 pistol from his hand.

Another cop got out his gun, walked over to that area, only to be met with a pistol right to the face.

"Drop it," Vince said. The cop raised his arms and dropped the gun. Vince pistol-whipped the cop and picked up some keys from the fallen cop. He looked right to Johnny. He even picked up the other cop's pistol.

"Shit, it's about time your burnt ass woke up," Johnny said.

"You okay, Johnny?" Vince said.

"Yeah, aside from almost getting sent to the chair, I'm fuckin' great," Johnny said as he used the keys to unlock the handcuffs. "You look good despite being burned. Did you do something with your hair?"

"Are you ready to get out of here?" Vince said and handed Johnny the other NR4.

In that moment, everyone in the courtroom left, except for Vince and Johnny. It was now to time to make their escape. An alarm was blaring. A security guard ran into the courtroom through the back. Vince and Johnny wasted no time and dropped that guy like a sucker. They knew what they were going to deal with. Vince picked up another NR4 pistol and decided to wield both weapons.

Both men got out of there. Several security guards and Stilwater police officers were waiting around the balcony area. It wasn't the end of it, though, as many guards were downstairs at the bottom, strapped and ready to open fire. Although they would like to take out anybody who was trying to shoot them, that could wait.

They crossed the balcony, entered another hallway. It went into another courtroom where a few other guards were waiting. A couple of other judges cowered to the side, but the judge from earlier was at the end, coming out of her chambers wielding a Tombstone.

"I got this," Johnny said.

Vince quickly dropped the other security guards, much to the fear of the other two cowering judges. Johnny saw that the judge from before was packing some serious heat. Although both men were notorious killers, they chose not to bother killing the other two judges who were scared to death at what was going on in front of them. Johnny quickly dove out of the way, with a buckshot just barely missing him by an inch. He peered over one of the wooden benches and just fired a shot directly at her neck, with blood splattering on the door and the way and then just dropping to the floor as the blood seeped some more out of the wound.

Vince and Johnny were on their way. The other judges looked up and saw that they paid them no mind.

"Thanks, your honor," Johnny said, picking up the shotgun from bloodied corpse.

The two went on their way, crossing the chambers and into another hallway. More guards were seen waiting for them. Johnny let out a big shot to the chest of one guard, with multiple wounds on display from the buckshot. Vince ran right to a pillar and put his back against it. He saw that more guards waited for them. None of them even tried to cover.

"They're making this too easy," Vince said.

Johnny didn't say anything and just made his presence known and let out another shot to a female guard, who just next to a railing on another balcony, causing her body to lean and then drop onto the floor below.

They kept fighting off any guard who got in their way, until Vince found a staircase. It was time to depart.

But it wasn't over yet. As soon as they got downstairs, not only were there more guards waiting for them, but some SWAT officers of the Stilwater PD waited for them.

"Fuck this," Vince said and saw a fire alarm on the side and pulled it. Suddenly, water started to spray onto the floor, much to the confusion of any guard or cop in the building.

Vince popped out the magazines from his pistols. Only a few left on each. He had to make them count. He ducked behind a counter where the cafeteria was. He peered out and delivered a shot, one hit a guard in his shoulder. Another had hit another guard on the side of his neck. A female guard turned her attention towards that area, gripping the handle of her pistol ready to make her move. But Johnny got out from behind a corner and squeezed the trigger of his shotgun, sending her flying right near the dining area of the cafeteria.

It was now time to leave. Some SWAT cops were on the vicinity. Both men hid behind the wall right next to the doorway of the front desk area. A SWAT officer slowly walked into the area, as a couple of bodies were left there, except for the one shot in the shoulder, who was hurt, but the bleeding had stopped. Vince stood close to the corner and had one of his pistols in his left hand. As soon as the SWAT cop went in, Vince pointed the pistol to the back of his head. BANG! He went down and on top of that, he had a Tombstone shotgun on him. Vince picked it up. It was now time to get out of there.

Vince and Johnny got in the line of sights of any other guards. Even from a distance, they did what they could with their shotguns. More SWAT guys and tried to fire at the two Saints. With them wearing vests, Vince fired a shot into a cop's head, literally blowing a chunk off as blood, brains, and tissue flew and spread onto the walls and floor. Johnny shot a SWAT guy in the leg, literally blowing it off and got out the pistol he had and let out only one shot into the cop's head.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Vince said.

The two went out through the front door. There was no time to look for that Compton and they needed something a bit faster. A police car was parked next to the fountain. Both men went in and Vince started up the car and they were out of the courthouse's grounds in no time.

"Thanks for busting me out," Johnny said. "Eesh would have killed me if I got executed."

Realizing the contradiction of Johnny's statement, Vince only went along with it.

"You're still with Aisha?" Vince said.

"Yeah, I mean it got a little hard for both us," Johnny said. "What with me on death row and her being on the down low after faking her own death. But, you know, we found a way to make things work."

"How long were in jail anyway?" Vince said.

"Two years and a month, 31 days to be exact," Vince said.

"Shit, you were counting?" Vince said.

"Yeah, right?" Johnny said. "It's weird, people inside were betting how long I would last. When I first got busted, guards were always trying to take me out. After Troy became chief of police, all of that shit stopped. Troy must be more forgiving than I am."

"Troy's the chief of police?" Vince said.

"Hey, you better start getting with the times, after how long you were laid out," Johnny said. "Julius went missing, Ben King wrote an autobiography, and Dex…, well don't even get me started on him. But the real kicker is Troy. In just a couple of months, he went from undercover cop to police chief. I hear that he has become obsessed with finding out what happened on your boat trip with the Alderman."

"If I get some free time, maybe I'll stop by the station and say hello," Vince said. "Shit, maybe I'll do it soon."

Johnny heard a lot of the sirens wailing and looked through the rearview mirror that more cops were on them.

"With these cops on our ass, you probably won't have to wait long," Johnny said.

"Is Forgive and Forget still around?" Vince said.

"Shit has changed, but not too much," Johnny said.

"Good to know that not everything has changed," Vince said.

Vince handed Johnny his phone, or at least the phone he took. He told Johnny to look on the GPS to find a Forgive and Forget location. It turned out it wasn't far from there. It was located on Misty Lane.

Vince drove the police car and saw the drive-thru place. He swerved onto the opposite lane and drove right up and went through. A voice had stated that their sins were forgiven and suddenly, the sirens went completely silent. It was amazing how a place like this even worked. Someone at Forgive and Forget must have connections with the police and/or the gangs.

"Hey, can you drop my off at Eesh's place?" Johnny said.

"Sure thing," Vince said. "Where does she live?"

"Not far from here, I'll tell where to go," Johnny said.

Vince heard north. He headed straight for the neighborhood. Things may have changed, but not completely. Johnny navigated for Vince on where to make turns and where to stop. It was not long until they got there. He pulled up and stopped.

"Hey, listen, I just got out and I need a little, you know, quality with Eesh," Johnny said. "I'll call you later and maybe you can come on by and we'll see what we can do."

"Not a problem, Johnny," Vince said. "Besides, I need to check some shit out myself."

"Okay," Johnny said and gave Vince a fist bump. "I'll hit you up later."

Vince sat there and saw as Johnny got to the door. It was time to go check out his old stomping grounds – Saint's Row.


	3. Back to the Row

Right after Vince had dropped off Johnny at his girlfriend Aisha's house, he drove around to see what has changed throughout the years. He went up and saw that the Price Estate had become abandoned and had vagrants squatting there. After the fall of the Westside Rollerz, it was amazing that the house was still up. Though it was abandoned, it was a surprise that no rich person even bothered to buy the house, or even the land.

He cruised around northern part of Stilwater. He knew that things had changed, but one thing that really got his attention was the major change of Saint's Row. He was set to go check it out.

He headed east and crossed the bridge from Union Square to head south. The bridges connected to Saint's Row. Once he crossed, he looked around. It was not like how he remembered. When he escaped prison with Carlos, he saw that it looked different. The tallest building was one to draw attention, but as he drove around the streets, the area looked so much different that the Row was hard to recognize anymore.

 _What happened to this place?_ He thought. He strolled around in his police car. The place looked like something from the future. Even the tenement buildings that were still up had blended in. Those buildings may have been what were left of anything resembling the old Saint's Row of the past. Sure, they were renovated, but it just wasn't the same.

Several corners had the Ultor insignia on it, which was an orange sun. Carlos was right - Ultor had expanded from a clothing company to something much, much bigger. It was as if Ultor did a 20-year change in just five years. They clearly had the money and resources, as well as a lot of time for it to happen.

As he strolled along, driving slowly to look at this futuristic utopia that this district had become. He looked to his right and hit the brake as hard as he could. He parked the car to the side and quickly got out, eyes widened, mouth opened agape. There was one thing that seriously grabbed his attention, as the sign on the front read "Stilwater Memorial Church."

 _Is this **the** church?_ He thought. It was in a different spot than he remembered. He remembered it being somewhere else. With all of the demolition and rebuilding, as well as renovations and repurposing of some buildings, it looked as if the old church was destroyed but rebuilt with the exact same exterior layout.

He went up the steps and opened the front door. He walked in through the foyer and inside, the church looked cleaner and nicer. For it to be named the "Stilwater Memorial Church," it almost seemed like it was a tourist attraction. He even wondered why they couldn't just repurpose it for Sunday service. Nevertheless, he looked around. The rug was purple. It had the same symbols that he remembered on the beams close to the ceiling and on the wall at the altar. He walked up and saw a staircase.

He walked up and saw that the walls had some plaques on them, as well as speakers. There were even roman numerals on them, as they seemed to serve a purpose. But what purpose would that be? Vince was about to find out. He walked up to very first plaque and pushed a button and the Ultor jingle was heard, along with a voice talking.

_"Hello, and welcome to the Stilwater Memorial Church. My name is Julius Little, and it's no secret that I've wasted many years of my life being a part of the gang problem here in Stilwater. Fortunately, the Ultor Corporation has given me a second chance. Join me, as I take you through the past and future of Saint's Row."_

Vince realized what had happened to Julius, but it wasn't enough. It didn't matter, he wanted to listen to some more, as he went to another plaque.

_"Founded in the 1800s, Stilwater was always a city of great diversity and promise, but the peak of Stilwater came in the 1970s. While the downtown area was as popular as it had always been, the crown jewel of Stilwater's crown was the district of Saint's Row. A testament to architecture and urban planning, Mission Beach was the most prestigious neighborhood to live in. However, the peace and tranquility was shattered when Alejandro Lopez moved to town. Backed by Colombian drug lords, Lopez not only controlled the drug trade, but he created the first major gang in Stilwater – Los Carnales."_

There was more to be heard. Vince moved onto the next one.

_"Los Carnales spread like a cancer. Within months, Lopez's empire was spread throughout Stilwater. One of the neighborhoods that was hit the worst was Sunnyvale Gardens. The Carnales swept through Sunnyvale, demanding protection fees, pushing drugs, and bringing gang warfare to the streets. Tired of the violence in Sunnyvale, my childhood friend Benjamin King organized the kids in the neighborhood to take a stand, and the Vice Kings were born."_

And then he moved on to the next one.

_"Fueled by their desire to take back Sunnyvale Gardens, the Vice Kings grew. It wasn't long, as Sunnyvale was free of the Carnales, but Ben King didn't stop there. Over the next few months, the Vice Kings and the Carnales battled for control of Stilwater. While the Carnales were reduced to a fraction of their former glory, the cost had been high. Not only was Stilwater torn apart, but Ben King had grown accustomed to power and refused to give it up. Rather than continue to be a leg-breaker for King, I dropped my flags and moved to Saint's Row. Sadly, my retirement was relatively short-lived."_

And then the next.

_"As the years went by, Benjamin King started to direct his focus to legitimate business ventures, and his criminal empire suffered for it. Not only did the Carnales regain their strength in power, but a new gang, the Westside Rollerz also tried to make a name for themselves. For a while, these three gangs fought tooth and nail, and tore each other apart, but once the violence went into Saint's Row, I had to do something. Like King, I gathered the people of Saint's Row, in this very building as well. Here is where the 3rd Street Saints were born."_

Vince was having flashbacks all of a sudden. That year was something. To him, this tour was just getting more interesting, depending on how one would look at it.

_"During the reign of the 3rd Street Saints, this building was no stranger to violence and what few pews remained in the condemned church were often stained with blood. But what was the epicenter for violence in Saint's Row had since become an icon for rebirth. After Alderman Hughes's assassination, one of my lieutenants, a strategist named Dexter Jackson accepted a job at Ultor and made it his first order of business to return this building into the icon it was in the 1970s. After meticulous and exacting restoration efforts spanning two years, Ultor is proud to open these church doors once again."_

There was one more to go. It had to be heard.

_"At a time when our city was shrouded by fear and apathy, the Ultor Corporation took a stand when no one else would. By working closely with Monica Hughes, wife of the late Alderman Hughes, Ultor created an urban renewal program that not only created jobs and housing, but also created safety. The Saint's Row you are now standing in, is the furthest thing from the violent streets of yesteryear, and with your help, it will never turn back to what it once was."_

Was this the exact same church as it once was, or just a replica? Either way, it didn't feel like what it used to be. Vince really wondered what happened with Julius after that incident five years prior. Maybe it was time to go pay an old friend a visit.

He left the church after listening to that audio tour. He searched the GPS. While the city had different police precincts, there was one main headquarters and it was just south from there.

* * *

He pulled up in his police car and got out. He went inside. Though he had history of killing cops and what happened earlier that day was no different, he decided to be civil this time. He went up to the front and desk.

"Hello, I am here to see Troy Bradshaw," Vince said.

The policewoman at the front desk looked up. Her eyes widened at what was in front of her. It seemed that Vince was recognizable for all that had happened those years ago.

"Is Chief Bradshaw expecting you?" the lady cop said.

"No, but tell him an old friend came to see him," Vince said.

"Right away," the policewoman said and got on a phone while Vince stood there and looked around.

"Okay, he's in his office, he's waiting," the policewoman said. "I'll have a policeman escort you."

Though he was an escaped patient and convict, it was quite a surprise that the police didn't just try to arrest Vince right then. He was escorted to the chief's office in a civil fashion. Though Troy was a cop, the fact that he had a hand in Johnny's trial must be something different. It was as if he didn't want to see a friend of his go down.

"Here he is," the male cop said. "I got my eye on you."

"Fuck off," Vince said and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice said on the other side of the door.

The door opened. Vince walked in. Troy sat there at his desk, with a cop uniform and everything. He had a mustache, rather than a goatee like he used to. On his desk was a pack of cigarettes. It seemed that he hadn't quick smoking in that time either.

"Hello, Playa, long time no see, I see that you're up now," Troy said.

"Troy, it's been a while, didn't realize you were a pig at some point," Vince said.

"Hey, just because I'm a cop doesn't mean shit," Troy said. "I kept you on life support and I kept Johnny from getting the chair. You should be thanking me."

"In fact, I do, otherwise I wouldn't have lived to see today," Vince said. "I can't thank you enough, even though you're the chief now."

"Relax, just because I was undercover doesn't mean that I didn't see you, Johnny, and the others as friends," Troy said.

"Good to know," Vince said. "Anyway, I was just at the old church. It seems that Julius and Dex are now working for Ultor. The Row looks so much different than I remember."

"A lot of shit has changed, Playa," Troy said. "I'm still trying to figure out who got Hughes killed and who almost had you killed. But I know it was Julius who blew up the boat."

"What the fuck? Are you serious?" Vince said.

"Shit got fucked up during those days," Troy said. "But I got the proof right here."

Troy looked through his files on his police computer. It seemed that there were some audio files that were in a special folder.

"I've been saving these for you in case you were to wake up," Troy said. "Now that you're here, you need to hear these."

Troy clicked on one folder. It seemed like it was a wiretap. The audio was being played.

_"What's up, Dex?" Troy said._

_"I know you're a cop," Dex said._

_"What the fuck are you talking about?" Troy said._

_"Come on, man, who do you think you're talking to?" Dex said. "The tactics, the police station job, your shitty haircut, you got cop written all over you."_

_"Okay, you got me," Troy said. "So what are you going to do?"_

_"Nothing," Dex said._

_"What?" Troy said._

_"I'm out, Troy, I got offered a job at Ultor," Dex said. I'm dropping flags and going straight. I just want to make sure that you and I won't have any problems."_

Vince realized that Dex knew all along. How did this pass him even back then he'll never know. Troy opened up another file.

_"How are you doing, Julius?" Troy said._

_"I was doing fine until I got arrested," Julius said._

_"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Troy said._

_"Okay, then let's hear it," Julius said._

_"Listen, Julius, you've made some bad choices, but you're a good man," Troy said. "I want to help you."_

_"What do you want from me?" Julius said._

_"I want the Saints to be gone," Troy said. "Now there's two ways to make that happen."_

_"You can arrest all of us," Julius said._

_"Or you guys can quit while you're ahead," Troy said. "This is my case, my investigation, I can miss a few collars."_

_"What are you saying?" Julius said._

_"Dex is out of the game, and you're in jail," Julius said. "If you can convince Johnny and Vince to drop their flags, the Saints will fall apart and everyone goes home happy."_

_"Do you actually think this will work?" Julius said._

_"Do you think I like arresting my friends?" Troy said. "Convince them to quit and I won't have to arrest them."_

_"There's no way that we can stop the Playa," Julius said._

_"There's always a way, you can make him understand," Troy said._

_"Let's say I can, how do I know I'm walking away free?" Julius said._

_"I've already talked to the mayor," Troy said. "Hughes is willing to give guys pardons."_

_"I'll see what I can do," Julius said._

Vince sat there with a puzzled look on his face. How could this have happened? Though he knew that Troy was undercover, it was definitely something that he considered the Saints to be his friends and that he didn't have to go to jail if he could just drop his flags like that.

"Wow, man," Vince said.

"It gets better," Troy said and opened up one more file to play.

_"What the fuck was that?" Troy said._

_"It was the only way," Julius said._

_"I said talk to him, not set off a goddamn bomb!" Troy said._

_"Relax, Troy, the Saints are finished," Julius said. "Don't try to find me."_

It was right then that Vince knew what happened that night. His questions were now answered.

"Look," Troy said. "I understand you don't want to trust me because of me being a cop, but you wouldn't be here if I didn't keep a tube on you, and Johnny would've been sentenced already if it wasn't for me."

"Nah, Troy, you did fine," Vince said. "Do you know where Julius is?"

"No, I don't know where he is," Troy said.

"I was just at the church," Vince said. "I listened to his tour."

"I haven't seen him," Troy said. "He skipped town. He may come around, but he avoids being seen like the plague. My advice is that you talk to someone else who might know. I have Julius's file. You can look at it."

Troy got out a business card. It was black with the orange Ultor symbol on it and it read "Dexter Jackson, head of security."

"Dex might know something," Troy said. "Give him a call sometime." Vince also looked at Julius's file. It seemed that things started to add up now.

"I will," Vince said. "Thanks for everything."

Vince got up and headed for the door.

"Listen, wait," Troy said. "I know about what happened earlier. If you get into any shit out there, I got your back. I got Johnny's back, too."

"Thanks, Troy," Vince said. He made his way out of the police station. He looked at the business card one more time.

 _Should I call him?_ Vince thought. It would definitely give him some closure to what happened that night. No, not yet, but I will eventually.

Vince put the business card away. He planned to save the number to his phone. If Troy helped him on this, maybe Dex could to. Vince got into the police car and cruised around. What a day this had been for him. But then his phone rang.

"Johnny, what's up?" Vince said.

 _"Hey, come over to Aisha's house,"_ Johnny said. _"I got some shit I want to discuss."_

"I'll be there in a bit," Vince said and hung up. Though he wanted some closure, he had just woken up from a coma and broken his friend out of jail. It was time to go and hang out for a bit. Maybe he'll call Carlos, as he felt he made a friend when he got out as well.


	4. Down Payment

Vince pulled into Misty Lane. Aisha's house wasn't far off as it had roughly more than an hour since he had dropped off Johnny over there. He only went to go check out Saint's Row to see what it was like now. The old church was rebuilt and made into a tourist trap and then went to see Troy. What was surprising was that while Troy worked undercover against the Saints, he was never actually against them. He still considered them as his friends despite his standing with the law. It's like what he once said, "You spend time with them long enough, you start thinking like them."

He used the same cop car as before. He pulled up in front of the house and got out.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! The door quickly opened. It was Johnny, who greeted his friend by slapping dap and did the half hug with one arm wrapping around and patting the back. Johnny was wearing a silk purple button-down shirt over the same pinstripe pants from earlier.

"So come on in," Johnny said and took a quick peek outside to make sure his friend wasn't followed. He then closed the door.

"You want a beer?" Johnny said.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Vince said.

Vince looked around at this house. It was very nice with some artwork up, as well as a gold record from one of Aisha's albums, as well as that one poster of Aisha in that provocative pose and her wearing so little.

"Johnny, who's that?" a female voice said, coming from upstairs.

"Yo, come to the living room and find out," Johnny said as he tossed a beer bottle to Vince. The two parked themselves on the couches and opened the bottles.

From a distance, a black woman in a white outfit with a purple shirt, as well as short hair walked down the stairs. It was Aisha.

"Johnny, I don't care if you just broke out of jail, you do not mess with my…," Aisha said. Johnny pointed his finger right at Vince, who turned around to face her.

"Oh my god, it's you!" Aisha said.

"Surprised, Aisha?" Vince said.

"What, that you're here?" Aisha said.

"You tell me," Vince said.

"We all thought you were dead," Aisha said.

"I almost was," Vince said.

"Well, for someone who was blown to hell, you look great," Aisha said. "Did you do something with your hair?"

"You could say that," Vince said. "How's Latisha doing?"

"Oh, she's doing alright, she's on the verge of graduating from Stilwater U soon and then she'll see what she'll do next," Aisha said.

"Yo, can we get back to business?" Johnny said.

"What's the rush?" Aisha said.

"I've been cooped up on death row, and that bitch has been laid out in a coma," Johnny said.

Both men took drinks from their beers.

"We definitely need to remind motherfuckers who we are," Vince said.

"And that can't wait until after dinner?" Aisha said.

"No," Johnny and Vince said in unison.

Aisha sighed and let out a small chuckle. "You two haven't changed at all."

"Well, you know, there's a saying about dogs and blowing shit up," Johnny said and laughed a bit, then turned to face Vince. "So what's the plan?"

"We get our crew together," Vince said. "Once we got that, we can work on how we're taking back our city."

"Sounds good," Johnny said.

Aisha cut in, "And where were you planning on having this little meeting?"

Silence broke through the air. Both Vince and Johnny had no idea but then started looking up and around. Suddenly, Aisha had an idea on what they were thinking.

"No," Aisha said.

"Well, this place has a lot of space," Johnny said.

"No," Aisha said.

"The color's very soothing," Vince said.

"No," Aisha said.

"Come on, Eesh," Johnny said.

"This ain't no fucking gang clubhouse," Aisha said and turned around with her back facing the two men.

"Change of plans," Johnny said.

"We got to find a new place?" Vince said.

"Yeah, you got it," Johnny said and turned over to Aisha. "Look, Vince and I are going to go house-hunting. I'll be back later."

Aisha sighed. "Okay, Johnny."

* * *

The two men left the house. A Zomkah was parked on the driveway.

"Let's take Eesh's car, I'll drive this time," Johnny said.

Vince went into the passenger's side, while Johnny went in and started up the car.

"So do you have any ideas?" Vince said. "I went by the church and it's different now."

"I know a mission house when we can set up shop," Johnny said. "So you went by the church, huh? Ultor renovated it and turned it into a tourist trap."

"I know, I even listened to Julius talk through the speakers," Vince said. "I even paid Troy a visit."

"Did you, really?" Johnny said.

"Yeah, but I don't have any problems with him," Vince said. "He kept me on life support and kept you from almost getting the chair. He may be a pig, but if that doesn't show loyalty to us, I don't know what does. Anyway, so what's this new place? You said a mission house, right? It seems like religious buildings are sort of 'been there, done that.'"

As Johnny drove, he continued to fill Vince in on this potential hideout. "No, we're not staying in the mission. Hear me out. Years ago, an earthquake dropped part of the city below sea level, and rather than clearing out the rubble, the city built over it. There's an abandoned hotel below the mission that'll work for us."

"Okay, so what's the catch?" Vince said.

"We got to evict the current tenants," Johnny said.

"Sounds like fun," Vince said.

Johnny drove down the streets of Filmore. He drove straight until made a right on a bridge that connected to Bavogian Plaza. It was not long until he made a left into a lot where the abandoned mission was. Johnny pulled up. This had to be the place. The exterior had a sign with a neon light indicating two hands together in a praying fashion and under it was a marquee. It would say something along the lines of "Join our Sunday service," except a few letters were missing. There were even dumpsters right by the front doors.

The two men got out of the car and headed for the front doors. Vince and Johnny walked in. It seemed that the church area looked much worse than how the old church did when it was the Saints' hideout just years prior, except it had seen much better days and had a lot of graffiti on the walls and some doors were even boarded shut.

"Follow me, Vince," Johnny said.

Vince followed Johnny towards a doorway, which had a staircase going downward to the left. There were empty shelves and stuff and the walls looked like they needed to be painted. They reached another set of stairs going downward, where some blue oil drums were stacked close to a pile of pews and right beside that pile was another staircase.

"How many more stairs do we have to go down?" Vince said.

"Not a lot," Johnny said. "Just follow me."

Johnny led the way and then found a doorway into a much more open area, with a floor below and two sets of stairs connecting with an old broken statue and a few more steps going down to the floor. This definitely looked like it could have been part of an old hotel, like Johnny said before. There was even a counter with signs saying "check in" at the top, along with couches surrounding a bonfire at the center of the floor, as well as a port-a-potty on the side.

"This is the place?" Vince said.

"Yeah," Johnny said.

"Shit, man, even the church was a bit classier than this," Vince said.

From a distance, some voices were heard. Some had American accents, whether they were white or black, and then some even sounded Caribbean.

"No time to talk, we got tenants to evict," Johnny said and got out his Vice 9 and Tombstone from earlier.

"I got you on that," Vince said, as he had his T3K and both of his NR4 pistols.

Suddenly some people in green came out. These may probably be one of the new gangs that had been running things since the Saints had disbanded. A couple of them ran through a doorway that was at a corner. Weapons were drawn between both alignments.

"Who the fuck are these guys?" Vince said.

"The Sons of Samedi, let's waste them," Johnny said.

The two men sprang into action. They quickly gunned down the two Samedi members inside the main area and then went through the doorway. This area had a shanty town with homeless people living there, but what was rather intriguing was that this area was like its own underground town. Johnny was right, the rest of the city was built over this, as old rail cars were seen, as well as fences and exteriors of old buildings.

No time for a tour. Johnny and Vince wasted no time on taking down the Sons of Samedi. Some of the other gang members packed some serious heat. Lucky for Vince and Johnny that there were pillars to use for cover, as bullets and pellets flew across, some even hitting some hobos that were using this whole area as their own little home.

Though Vince and Johnny were outnumbered, they just shot at whatever and even took what was left of any ammo from the fallen gang members. All of the gunfire escalated in the underground town, or as one would put it, "Old Stilwater." It even went into the area of the old hotel. It even led to the homeless people starting to attack the duo, but that didn't stop them from firing back at them.

Many of the gang members and homeless people kept dropping like flies. However, a few close calls had occurred as one homeless person clocked Johnny from behind with a crowbar. Johnny fell from the impact of the attack, but Vince intervened, putting the barrel of his pistol to the back of the man's head and BANG! The man dropped. However, the same effect happened, as something sharp and metal went against the back of his right shoulder.

"AAAAHHH!" Vince yelled and saw that a homeless person had a butterfly knife on him. Though the cut didn't puncture that deeply into the tissue, he still suffered a bit of a cut. Vince had no choice but to raise his gun to the homeless man's face and fire. A hole was punctured on the man's forehead and he quickly dropped to the ground.

Being that they wanted to take this whole area back to the Saints, Johnny picked up the crowbar that was used to attack him. Vince saw a sledgehammer lying around and they went forth to bust some of the shanties down. Many of the hobos continued to try attacking the two men, but some were hurled to the shanties. As soon as they landed, any of the stuff used came tumbling down. It was as if their weight was a factor in bringing down the shanties.

Many bodies lied around after all of the carnage that occurred. Vince and Johnny looked around this area. So much intrigue that the earthquake caused anything left of the city to be underground like this, especially the first floor of the hotel.

"So what do you think?" Johnny said.

Vince looked around the area. "It's kind of a shithole."

"True that, but it's a shithole with potential," Johnny said as he was about to sit down on a couch, but not before taking a dead body off of it.

"I don't know, man," Vince said. "Even the church seemed a bit classier than this."

"Oh, come on, we can always fix it up," Johnny said. "A stripper pole, some flat-screen TVs, maybe some nicer furniture, this place could be fixed."

"You had me at stripper pole," Vince said as he sat down.

"Fucking A," Johnny said.

The two sat around and saw the potential that this place had. Though it was a like a home for the homeless, as well as on a territory of one of Stilwater's gangs. This was only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so there wasn't that much detail in the action in this one, but you could only do so much in that department. I will put in some more action scenes soon.
> 
> Next up, the Saints make their return.


	5. Three Kings

Minutes had passed. Vince and Johnny looked at the potential hideout for the Saints. There was one problem, however. Vince and Johnny saw the bodies that were laid out. Sons of Samedi members, vagrants, the corpses just lied there after the shootout. The two men picked them up and put them in piles.

"Yo know, this ain't exactly what I had in mind for my day," Johnny said.

"You, we got to clean this place out if we want to make it ours," Vince said as he put a corpse down.

"Yo, I'm not a fuckin' janitor," Johnny said.

"No shit, you're a goddamn diva," Vince said.

"Real funny," Johnny said. "But really, this is the kind of shit people who just got canonized should have to do."

"Good idea, we'll just ask some of the crew for help," Vince sarcastically replied and kicked a male corpse on its head while he was on the ground. "Hey, buddy, want to help? No? Looks like we're doing this ourselves."

"That's my point," Johnny said. "We can't really run a gang if we don't have, you, a fucking gang."

"You said it yourself, even my new boy Carlos told me this," Vince said. "Most of the old crew are either dead, busted by Troy, or blew town. We're gonna have to start fresh."

"Yeah, well let's get on that, 'cause I'm done mopping up blood," Johnny said. "And who is Carlos, by the way?"

Vince started walking up the staircase as Johnny followed him.

"Carlos helped me bust out, said that his brother Javier was in our old crew," Vince said.

"Javier? I think I remember him," Johnny said.

"Yeah, well he seems alright but we're going to need more," Vince said. "What do you think?"

"Yo, I met some people in jail who might work, let me make some calls," Johnny said. "Once I find out where these bitches are, you're going to have to show them that you're the real deal, though. They won't just follow anybody."

"That won't be a problem for me," Vince said. "I'll hit up Carlos. You tell me where to find some of those people."

"No problem, Playa," Johnny said. "Hey, before you go, what sort of crew you lookin' for?"

"Anybody who knows about the new gangs that are running this town," Vince said. "People who aren't afraid to step up and put it down. I know I can handle my shit, but I need to see if anybody willing to do the same."

Johnny nodded his head. "Good, I like that initiative. I'll hit up some of those people and some others to see if they're willing to put it down. I'll tell you where to find a couple of people who I knew in jail. Now go on."

"Got it," Vince said and proceeded to walk up the stairs and through the other staircases in other rooms before getting to the church area and finally exited the abandoned mission.

As soon as he left the place, he saw the Zomkah parked out there, as well as a yellow Compton, and a blue Kenshin. The Zomkah likely belonged to Aisha, so he didn't want to mess up that car. He took the car. Who it belonged to didn't matter, he was going to use it anyway. He would have taken the bike, but he took the first choice he had in mind.

Once Vince started up the car, he got out his phone and called the first person he wanted to recruit.

 _"Hello?"_ a male voice said.

"Carlos, this is Vince," he said. "Listen, I am putting together a new crew. I was wondering if you want to meet up so we can talk."

 _"Sure thing,"_ Carlos said. _"Meet me at the Rim Jobs on Misty Lane. I have something I want to do first."_

"I'll be there," Vince said.

Puzzled at the idea that Carlos wanted to meet up with him at a Rim Jobs location, Vince complied. In that time, it seemed that Rim Jobs had moved locations from Tidal Spring to Misty Lane. Not that it mattered, really. It's just that it showed how much Stilwater had changed throughout that time.

Vince drove from Bavogian Plaza to Misty Lane. The good thing was that the connecting bridge was close by. The car had a GPS and found the exact location of where that garage was. It was close to a Freckle Bitch's location, as that one place _didn't_ move in that time.

He crossed the bridge and followed the path to head to the place. He made a left and saw the fast food restaurant, and as soon as he made a right, he saw Carlos standing and leaning against tow truck with his arms crossed and looking down. He wore the same purple beanie and also wore a wife-beater top and purple sweats. He had been waiting a bit, near a tow truck. Why was he next to a tow truck?

Vince pulled in. Carlos looked up as Vince parked the car in a parking spot and got out.

"Carlos, what's up?" Vince said. "What's with the tow truck?"

"Not much," Carlos said. "I'd love to help the Saints, but first I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure, what's the deal?" Vince said.

"A deadbeat friend of mine owes me money," Carlos said. "Can you help me repossess his car?"

His question was answered. How Carlos acquired the tow truck was anybody's guess, but that wasn't important.

"No problem, man," Vince said. "Let's do this."

Vince headed straight for the driver's seat, while Carlos headed for the passenger's seat. Vince started up the Shaft and they were on their way. The radio came on. Vince had it on Generation X 98.0 with "Move Along" from The All-American Rejects playing.

"Just letting you know, we're going to get my friend's car at the Mourning Woods Cemetery," Carlos said. "So how have you been?"

"I have had a busy day today, Carlos," Vince said. "It has only been a day since breaking out and I have been busy."

"Yeah, I heard what you did at Johnny's trial," Carlos said.

"No way was I going to let him fry," Vince said. "Did you know Gat from jail?"

"Not really, but I saw Johnny in prison once," Carlos said. "He didn't look like really a happy guy."

"Eh, Johnny's a good guy," Vince said. "He's happy when he's killing someone. If he's cool with you, you don't have to worry. Just don't ever piss him off."

Carlos slowly turned his head and took a deep breath.

"So tell me," Vince said. "Is your brother still in town?"

"I went by my old neighborhood," Carlos said. "Some of my friends and family told me that he blew town as soon as the shit happened. Last I heard, my brother took off to Steelport or something."

"Steelport, huh?" Vince said. "Never been."

"Neither have I," Carlos said. "I should try to give him a call later. The thing was, when Julius first formed the Saints, Javier was one of the first to join up. He wasn't as smart as Dex or tough as Johnny, but he was loyal. He believed in the Saints enough to die trying to defend the church. I just hope that it's true that he's in another city and not dead."

"Think positive, Carlos," Vince said, though he gritted his teeth a bit when he heard Julius's name being mentioned. He will find out more of the truth soon enough, but now was not the time.

The two men strolled down Quinbecca, passing by a trailer park. The cemetery was close by as the sign saying "Mourning Woods Cemetery" was seen.

"You sure your friend's car is here?" Vince said. "Does he work for a fucking mortuary?"

Carlos looked around and saw a Reaper hearse parked near a gravesite, where people stood close to it, presumably for a funeral. One woman waved a sign that read "Stop the violence!"

"There it is," Carlos said.

Vince looked up. "So he _does_ work for a mortuary."

"Not really, he bought a hearse but someone needed it for a funeral," Carlos said.

"Whatever, I'm just doing you this favor," Vince said and slowly drove and turned the wheel and set the lights on and started driving in reverse. The people looked up and saw the Shaft backing towards the Reaper with looks of confusion on their faces. Some of them ran out of the way as Vince slowly backed in and avoided any headstones and then hooked the hearse right to the hook and immediately raised it.

"That's good," Carlos said. "Now let's go."

Vince slowly drove out onto the road with the Reaper in tow. As soon as they hit the road, Carlos had a phone in hand and put it to his hear.

"Hey, Ramon, what's up?" Carlos said. "Listen, I don't got a lot of time. I was just calling to you let you know that I…stole your car." Carlos paused for a bit to chuckle before informing his friend that his car was in their possession.

"Are you there? Great," Carlos said. "Here's the deal, if you don't want your car cubed, I really suggest you pay back the money that you owe me. Okay, I will talk to you later, Ramon."

The call ended. Vince continued to drive.

"Where do you want me to take this?" Vince said.

"Take it to the Rim Jobs," Carlos said. "I will talk to Ramon later."

Vince drove the Shaft with the Reaper in tow down Quinbecca. It wasn't long until they got to Misty Lane and they pulled up to the garage and went to a stop. The two immediately got out of the car.

"Hey, so am I in the Saints?" Carlos said.

"Yeah, you're in, Carlos," Vince said. "Meet me at the old mission on Bavogian Plaza."

"See you then," Carlos said.

Vince walked up to the Compton that was still parked there and got out his phone. He had received three messages. One was from Johnny, and the other from two unsaved numbers. Johnny's message read:

_Hey, I hit up two people I would like you meet. I gave them your number. You should be getting messages soon. They'll tell you where to meet them._

As for the other two messages, one had said it was from a guy named Pierce. The other from a girl named Shaundi. They both said to meet them in Misty Lane, but they had different addresses. However, Pierce's message seemed more enticing as it said to bring some heat.

Vince took off. He went eastbound and pulled up to a lot in front of an apartment complex near a mini-mall with an On the Rag location. He saw a black guy wearing a white and purple baseball jersey and a hat with the same patterns.

People want to start wearing the colors before they join. Vince thought. That shows some loyalty, I guess.

Vince pulled up in front of the man and rolled down the window. "Are you Pierce?"

"Yeah, that's me," the man said. "If I'm going to run with you, I want to see you fuck some Ronin up."

"No problem, tell me where I can find them," Vince said.

"I know where they roll," Pierce said. "But if I see them, I'll holler."

They quickly got out of the lot and rolled down the street. It was a suburban neighborhood, not the kind of place you would expect gang activity. Tell that to anybody who survived the gang wars of 2006, especially any surviving members of the Westside Rollerz. The moment they came across another mini-mall near a strip club called Technically Legal with an L-train track right over it, they turned left.

Pierce looked around until he saw two people, a man and woman in black and yellow jackets with a dragon insignia on the back. The woman's jacket was smaller, like it was done like a crop top as her midriff was showing.

"There they go," Pierce said.

Vince drove and turned the car in an awkward position in the middle of the road. He pulled out his T3K Urban and cocked the gun. The magazine had enough rounds in it. As he rolled up, put his left arm out and fired the gun at the two Ronin members that just happened to be walking on the sidewalk. Many civilians screamed and ran away as soon as the gunfire started. Others were shocked at the sight of two bloody corpses that dropped on the sidewalk and just ran for their lives.

"Keep going, some ain't too far," Pierce said.

Vince turned the car around and Pierce was right. A few others were seen close to a small playground near some residential homes. As soon as they pulled up, Vince signaled Pierce to take the wheel. They switched places and Vince pulled out the T3K again and started firing at three Ronin members. With the hardware he used, they dropped like flies. Most of the bystanders just ran away. A couple of others weren't as lucky, however. But it wasn't like he was trying to fire at them.

"There should be more close by," Pierce said.

"So what's your deal?" Vince said.

"My deal is that I'm the total package," Pierce said. "You need someone shot? I can do it. You need someone to strategize? I can do it. You need to score some courtside tickets? I can do it. You know what the only thing I can't do is? Be stopped…or play pai gow poker 'cause that shit don't make sense."

Vince chuckled at that last part. "Okay, I get it."

Pierce drove across the road and onto some grass. Vince looked to his right and saw a white Ronin member firing at them.

"Hit them!" Pierce said.

"With pleasure," Vince said and extended his right arm out the window and fired five shots to the Ronin soldier's chest.

"Stop the car," Vince said.

"Where are you going?" Pierce said.

"I think there are more down there," Vince said.

"Shit, take my K-6," Pierce said and handed him the rifle.

Vince held the K-6 Krukov. It was time to see if he still could handle a gun like that. Right in front of him was a gateway with red and white barriers and "Do not enter" signs on top. They were right close to a bridge and as Vince ran closer, more Ronin members were seen at the bottom standing on a wooden staircase overlooking the river below.

Before the Ronin lieutenants could even look up, Vince wasted little time firing four rounds to one guy standing closest to the stairs. As soon as he dropped, the corpse rolled down the stairs all the way to the bottom. A female member tried to fire, but at soon Vince pumped four shots into her, her bloody corpse dropped to the railing and slowly fell right to floor. The third suffered a similar fate. He didn't even have time to try to react. All three just dropped quickly, especially from the distance Vince stood from.

"That's some good shooting," Pierce said. "I'm definitely down for being with your crew."

"Good, meet me at the abandoned mission house in Bavogian Plaza," Vince said.

"I'll be there," Pierce said.

Vince got back into the Compton and headed for the address that the last member was. He followed the GPS to the address. It didn't take that long to get there. It was not far from where Aisha lived, as it was in the suburbs.

As soon as pulled up, he saw a young attractive woman with dreadlocks, a purple bandana, a small gray halter top that was form-fitting and also exposed her midriff, and finally, purple bell-bottomed jeans with black shoes. It had to be her, especially with her rocking the colors before being an official member. What also caught his attention were the two Hammerheads parked on the driveway. He noticed people in the backyard hanging out. It had to have been a little get-together.

He parked the Compton and got out.

"Shaundi?" Vince said.

"Yeah, that's me," the woman said. "I want to see how you can drive."

"Well, I'm not going in _that_ thing," Vince said, pointing to the Compton.

He walked up to a red and black Hammerhead and got out a slim pick to unlock the car.

"What are you doing?" Shaundi said.

"You said you wanted to see me drive," Vince said. "I will show you in a much better car than that Compton."

Vince pulled out the pick and opened the door. "Come on, let's take a ride."

Vince hotwired the car and started it up and quickly hit the gas to storm right on out of there. Some bystanders jumped at how he just gunned the car and sped down the streets.

 _If I had known, I would have taken that bike._ Vince thought. He rolled and swerved on the road, avoiding traffic each time, as well as pedestrians. He had driven much since he had been in a coma, but it was all coming back to him.

"Whoa, you're a good driver," Shaundi said. "Were you a racer?"

"I have dabbled in it," Vince said.

"Yeah, well, let's see how you can jump a car," Shaundi said.

"Oh, you want to see me jump, huh?" Vince said. "I'll show you."

Vince looked around to see if there were any ramps. He headed south until he saw Elysian Fields, where that trailer park was. Once he crossed the dirt road, he saw half of what looked like a broken bridge in a pretty deep drop.

"Grab a hold of something," Vince said.

"What?" Shaundi said.

"Just do it!" Vince said.

Vince hit the gas hard as he went down the hill and saw the other half of the broken bridge and continued to hold as the car went faster until he reached the bridge. The car went up and he let go of the gas pedal and the car jumped right across onto and hit the ground on the other dirt road.

"Wow!" Shaundi said.

But Vince wasn't done yet. He quickly hit the gas and turned left as he saw a big dirt hill at the top of the hill. He drove quickly to head up there. He didn't car about driving on the road. He drove northbound alongside a cement tunnel, or so it seemed. As soon as he hit the street, he made a quick turn to drive through that tunnel and stepped on the gas hard. Like before, Shaundi grabbed onto something. Vince quickly stormed through the tunnel and right onto the hill to make that jump, and right over a beam that holds up an L-train to land right close to an unfinished piece of highway. In fact, there were other beams around and broken walls.

Vince looked up and saw the unfinished freeway road. Vince backed up and went forth to make the jump. Except this time, he and Shaundi landed right onto the bridge.

"Wow, that was some impressive shit!" Shaundi said after taking a deep breath and smiling at that.

"What do you say we go meet the rest of the boys, Shaundi?" Vince said.

"Good times, let's go," Shaundi said.

"So I got a question, what's your deal?" Vince said.

"I am good with getting information, as I have my ways of doing that," Shaundi said and turned her head to look out the window. "I am also good with scoring some good weed, and knowledge about drugs and alcohol."

"Really?" Vince said. "Do tell."

Shaundi continued, "Back when I was in jail Johnny and I set up a pruno ring. The stuff had a 20% chance of making you go blind, but man did it have this great oak-y flavor, ya know what I mean? Well, you probably don't 'cause you were in a coma but you get what I'm sayin'. The point is that I was the only person who could make the stuff without killing somebody, so I'd handle the pruno and Johnny would just beat the hell out of people until they'd buy from us. It was pretty cool."

Vince smirked. "Welcome aboard."

Vince drove her back to the abandoned mission house. It was time to get everyone together for the meeting.

Vince and Shaundi pulled up to the new hideout. They got out of the car and walked down the stairs. Already there was a guy and a girl guarding the door.

"Hey, you need help?" the guy said.

"Nah, I know this place, I got this," Vince said.

Vince led Shaundi to get down to where the old remains of the hotel were. It was still amazing to Vince that an older part of Stilwater existed underground, as if there was an underground town.

As soon as they went to the area, Johnny was seen beating up some guys in purple, while other people wearing the same colors were standing around cheering them on, with bonfires around and everything. It really didn't take long for Johnny to get some people to join, or at least find some people he saw who were fresh out of prison to just up and join the gang. Pierce and Carlos stood by the statue and were seen talking.

"Hey, Carlos, hey, Pierce," Vince said.

"Hey," Carlos said and saw Shaundi. "Who is this?"

"This is Shaundi," Vince said. "Come on, let's go down there."

Vince led the three new members to the pit where Johnny and the others were.

"What the hell is going on here?" Vince said.

Johnny got up from the guy who was on the floor and turned around.

"I had to do some canonizing," Johnny said and looked away.

"Hold up," Johnny said and pointed to another recruit. "You, you're next."

"Wait, what?" the guy said and quickly met a punch to the face by a guy standing next to him.

"Sorry about that," Johnny said as he walked away.

"Where did you find _these_ guys?" Vince said.

"Like I said, I made some calls," Johnny said.

Carlos, Pierce, and Shaundi looked around at this place. They were surprised at what they saw, considering it looked like it had seen better days.

"You guys actually hang out down here?" Carlos said.

Shaundi looked around. "I don't know. Add a flat-screen TV, some throw pillows, and a hookah and this place would be alright."

"You definitely need a stripper pole in this bitch," Pierce said.

"Definitely," Johnny said.

"Oh yeah," Vince said as he saw that they can clean and repurpose this place. He turned around and went up the stairs.

"So what do we do know?" Shaundi said to Johnny.

"We listen," Johnny said.

Everyone, from Johnny to all of the new members, they turned around to give their undivided attention to Vince, who was now standing at the top of the stairs.

"Okay, everybody, listen up, we got some serious shit to discuss," Vince said. "The Saints used to own Stilwater and it seems the only motherfuckers that remember that is me and Gat. I think it's time we give those other crews a wake-up call."

Suddenly, everyone started hooting and hollering, as well as throwing their arms in the air.

"Now I won't lie, a lot of shit has changed since I've been out of the game, so I'm going to need some help," Vince said and looked right to Pierce. "Pierce, you're on the Ronin. I want to know who's calling the shots and what businesses they're running."

"Done," Pierce said.

Vince looked towards Shaundi. "Shaundi, you got the Sons of Samedi."

"Does it have to be them?" Shaundi said.

"The fuck you say?" Vince said.

"It's cool, I…I got this," Shaundi said, despite her initial reluctance.

Vince looked to Carlos and called out his name.

"The Brotherhood, I'm on it," Carlos said.

"Okay," Vince said. "Once we're done here, talk to one of these guys. They'll have something for you to do. It's our time now, let's get this shit started."

Vince realized that he had said the same thing Julius Little had said when he first joined the Saints. Now that he had taken Julius's spot as the leader, it was now time to show that the Saints are back.

What a day it had been. The Saints were back, but he also needed to hone his skills a bit and see what Stilwater had to offer.

* * *

**MEANWHILE…**

Somewhere else, a large muscular man of Islander descent with tattoos on arms and face was lying on a bench, shirtless, bench-pressing about 315 pounds. He had a red Mohawk and mullet hybrid as his hairstyle. Close by him was a young redhead woman with a red top and black pants, and a young man with blonde hair and a similar hairdo and red clothes.

"Come on, Maero, just a few more reps," the blonde guy said.

"Yeah, baby, you got this!" the redheaded woman said.

Maero, the guy on the bench, did two more reps until he was finished. He sat up and the girl handed him a red shirt.

"Thanks, Jessica," Maero said, with a really deep voice.

"Anytime, baby," Jessica said and leaned in and wrapped her arms around the big man.

"That was awesome, man," the blonde guy said.

"Still trying to beat my record, Matt," Maero said.

Out of nowhere, two men walked in with two other men, all dressed in red but had vests on. Half of those men appeared injured as they walked in slowly.

"Maero, you got to hear this," one of the guys said.

"Hey, what's going on?" Maero said.

One of the other guys said, "We tried to look for this guy earlier. He fucked up our boys over there."

"Wait, hold up, what happened?" Maero said as Matt and Jessica moved back from him.

"This guy at Tee'n'Ay, he was wearing purple and fucked up our boys over there," guy 2 said. "We couldn't find him after that, but last we heard, he shot up the courthouse."

"Wait, did you say he wore purple?" Maero said.

"Yeah, why?" guy 2 said.

Maero sat there in silence for a few seconds. "Nothing, you two go on ahead. Go get some ice for our boys."

Maero sat on the bench once again, deep in thought, like he had an idea.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Jessica said.

"Yeah, you okay, dude?" Matt said.

"I'm fine, I just got an idea," Maero said. "When he said purple, I knew what that meant. Yes, I think we can make a deal with them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I had not worked on this lately. I dealt with personal issues not long after the last chapter of this and then I updated my stories of Saints Row 1 and 3. I felt like I neglected this one, but not that I didn't want to update it. I will note that like in the other two, I will mix it up. You'll see what I'll do.
> 
> Next up, if the last bit didn't give any indication, Vince and Carlos meet up with a leader of a rival gang. Stay tuned.


	6. First Impressons

It had been nearly a week. The Saints were already embarking on their mission to get some information on the three new gangs that had taken over Stilwater in the time Vince had been put in a coma, as well as Johnny had been put in jail.

Vince put his three new lieutenants in charge of getting information on the gangs. However, that didn't mean that they couldn't help out when it came to battling a gang that they weren't in charge of gaining info on. Pierce was in charge of getting information on the Ronin. Shaundi was in charge of getting information on the Sons of Samedi, though there must be a reason for her initial reluctance. Carlos was in charge of getting information on the Brotherhood of Stilwater.

In that time, Vince went to check out other things to do, like riding with drivers of septic trucks, as well as drug-dealing, as well as getting some girls from rival gangs. He had gained an idea on what the Saints were about to deal with.

At the hideout, Vince looked around and everyone was hanging out. Carlos was seen talking with Shaundi and Pierce. Vince went down the stairs to go approach the trio.

"…Come on, Carlos, hit this," Shaundi said while she held out a joint.

"I would love to, Shaundi, but I got something on my mind and I don't want to lose focus," Carlos said. "Maybe later."

"Okay, but you don't know what you're missing," Shaundi said as she put the joint to her mouth to take a hit and blew the smoke out and passed it to Pierce, who then passed it to one of the others.

"Hey, Vince," Carlos said.

"What's up, Carlos?" Vince said. "You got anything on the Brotherhood? I dealt with some of those assholes recently. I want to know if you found anything on them so we can hit them."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Carlos said. "I was digging around like you asked and I found out the guy running the Brotherhood is some bad motherfucker named Maero. Anyway, Maero found out I was looking into..."

"Wait, what?" Vince said.

"Hey, hey, be cool, it's not so bad," Carlos said. "Maero asked to sit down and have a chat with you. He wants to work something out before things get out of control."

"Whoa, whoa, he wants to have a word with me?" Vince said. "Okay, did he say where?"

"He said that he wants to meet up sometime soon," Carlos said. "He wants us to meet at the Stilwater Caverns."

"Yeah, that's not a trap," Vince said. "Hit him up and maybe we can have this little talk."

"Hold on," Carlos said and got out his phone.

Vince looked around. He wondered about this. While he had dealt with other rival gangs in the past, especially with violence involved, what was on his mind was that this man wanted to have a talk with him. What could he want?

"Okay, man, it's been set," Carlos said after he got off the phone. "Maero wants to meet up today."

"Sounds good, let's go take a ride," Vince said.

Vince and Carlos walked up the sets of stairs and went through the other obstacles to get to the parking lot.

"Man, I don't know if I can get used to all this walking every time I come here," Carlos said.

"Hey, I plan to get this place fixed up soon," Vince said. "Just wait. You'll see that we will have this place in tip-top shape in no time."

"I hope we get this done soon," Carlos said.

They reached the church area, which only mean that the front doors were just close by. They walked out and found a purple Compton parked outside. Vince went to the driver's seat and Carlos rode shotgun.

RING! RING! RING! Vince's phone started to ring. He had a generic ringer for his phone. Johnny's picture and name came up.

"Hey, Johnny, what's going on?" Vince said.

 _"Hey, man, something you should know,"_ Johnny said. _"Those homeless fucks are at it again."_

"What? Why should we care?" Vince said. "Carlos and I are headed out to the caverns for some shit."

 _"Good, maybe you can take care of the problem while you're at it,"_ Johnny said. _"Those bums we evicted set up shop in the underground caverns. Now normally I wouldn't give a shit, but these assholes have been mugging tourists so they can have enough bank to come at us. You toss their shanty town, and I doubt they'll try to step to us."_

"Okay, thanks for the heads up, me and Carlos will take care of the problem when we get there," Vince said. "Talk to you later, Johnny."

Vince got off the phone.

"What was that about?" Carlos said.

"Something we need to get done before we meet with Maero," Vince said. "Come on, let's get going."

Vince started up the car. The radio happened to be on Gen X for some reason, with DJ Veteran Child having a caller calling in about playing some songs from a band called the Feed Dogs. Vince changed it to 420 FM with "The Real McCoy" from Mavado playing. They were off.

* * *

It was quite a drive from Bavogian Plaza to the Factories District, especially to where the caverns were. They parked right in front of the building, which was right close to the water. The two got out and entered through the front door where the gift shop was. Vince and Carlos just walked and passed the ticket stand.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, you have to pay for your tickets to go in," said a male ticket taker. "Sirs, come back and pay for your tickets."

It was not long until they walked down the stairs to get into the caverns. They passed the building area and went into the caverns. Lights were glaring over the caves, especially with this place being a tourist trap. It was pretty big. It seemed that in the time of Vince's coma, Ultor had made the caverns into a place where people go take tours. It was pretty big. It wasn't long until they saw some homeless people near some caves.

"Carlos, over there," Vince said.

"What? That's not Maero," Carlos said.

"No, but it's another problem we should take care of," Vince said.

The two ran and crossed a wooden a rope bridge and then another. Two hobos stood on some rocks, armed as if they were security for their shanty town. The moment one hobo drew his gun, Vince got out his NR4 pistol and quickly fired two shots at one. Carlos fired a couple of rounds at another. He missed, but Vince managed to drop that other one.

Vince and Carlos only fired at any hobo if necessary as the only priority for this was just to destroy the shanty town. If Johnny said that they were saving up to get back at the Saints for what they did to their shanty town in Old Stilwater, then maybe this could only hurt the chances of the homeless to strike back.

Several gunshots were fired. Surprisingly, they weren't from the two Saints, but from any hobo trying to fire at Vince and Carlos. Some bullets even hit their makeshift buildings, ruining their homes. One guy even ran towards Vince, knife in hand, and ready to hack him open. Vince saw the hobo brandishing the knife in a stabbing position, grabbed the man by the wrist and twisted his arm and grabbed him with his other hand by the man's side, lifting him and throwing him towards another shanty. It wasn't long until all of the shanties were destroyed. Carlos managed to take down a few who tried to fire at them. The job was done and was now time to meet with the Brotherhood's leader.

* * *

It had been only some minutes after the Saints had taken down the hobos and probably claimed the caverns as their new turf. Vince and Carlos grabbed a hold of some flashlights to look for this Maero guy. The caverns were rather big. Oddly enough, a man dressed as a well-known character from a movie about an archeologist was seen walking around as well as swinging on a rope. There was something familiar about this man, as maybe he had seen a picture of this man from someone who forwarded him a list of people to kill for a price.

As Vince and Carlos continued to walk down a path, right up ahead from them sat a man on a bench. However, this man wore brown pants and a red short-sleeved button-down shirt and had tribal tattoos on his arm, as well as his face, along with some piercings.

Carlos leaned towards Vince and whispered, "That's him."

"You Maero?" Vince said.

"That's right," Maero said.

"Where's your crew, then?" Vince said.

"I don't need one," Maero said.

Vince got out his NR4 and cocked the gun to point at him. "You sure about that? I could kill you right now."

"No, you couldn't," Maero said and pointed to a GHDC pistol as well as a 12-Gauge shotgun he had laid on the bench and stood up to show that he towered over the Saints' leader with his height and imposing physique.

Vince smirked in an expression that said, "Okay, I see now." It was like he was a bit impressed.

"What do you want?" Vince said. "Carlos told me that you wanted to meet with me."

"Listen, I'm not stupid, I know who you are," Maero said. "Now there's no reason for us to tear each other apart."

"I'm listening," Vince said. Unbeknownst to him, from a distance some cops were looking around the caverns, probably because of reports of gunfire occurring just moments before.

Maero continued, "Here's what I'm thinking, we divide Stil-." Only to be interrupted when cop yelled that he heard voices.

Gunfire erupted from both parties with the gang members and the Stilwater police. One cop dropped and the two Saints, along with Maero used the bench as cover. The other two cops dropped from the other shots.

"Shit, we need to get out of here," Vince said.

"We can discuss this at my place," Maero said. "Let's get out of here."

The caverns were open, dark with a little light, and also cops coming out to try to either take these gangsters in or to take them down. Were they really onto them because of the incident with the shanty town? It didn't matter. All that was really important was getting out of there, even if it meant gunning down more cops in the process. The three ran down any paths that could lead to the stairs of the entrance. It was a fight or die situation. Except for one problem – it seemed that Vince and Carlos didn't have enough extra ammo to use on any of the cops that were after them. They had to make their shots count.

With Maero wielding the 12-Gauge, it was easy enough for him to drop some, even if it meant blowing a cop's limbs or head off depending on how close he was. Otherwise he would have to rely on his GHDC, which was a rather powerful handgun. Several bystanders were running for their lives. Vince, while he had killed innocents before, a lot of the time it wasn't intentional or maybe if it depended on the situation. He often went by his own code. He could threaten them, but more often than not, he chose not to intentionally kill innocents. It was also different if they were caught in the crossfire. Contract killings, on the other hand, were a different story.

It didn't take long until they finally made it to the stairs near the entrance and the gift shop.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Vince said.

"We go up, we hit the street," Carlos said. "We go down, we take a boat out of here."

"Listen, my place is not far from here," Maero said. "We take a boat, we may only worry about the cops on the water or on chopper, but cops would be on our ass if we go by car."

"Okay, we'll go with a boat then," Vince said.

They headed straight. Several bystanders ran around like idiots scared to death from all of the shooting that took place, especially since three men who were involved were right close by. They ran down the stairs and went into another cave with a waterfall. Light glared towards the upper parts of the cave near a flight of stairs going upward. It only meant that there was an opening and a dock nearby. They raced to the outside and walked along the dock and saw a Miami boat.

"Let's go," Vince said.

"I'll drive," Maero said. "I know where my hideout is. You two look out for any cops."

"You got it," Vince said.

Vince and Carlos sat on the back of the boat while Maero started it up and they were off speeding on the water, passing the big ships near other docks along any harbor they passed by. Vince and Carlos looked around. Only one police boat was seen, and it wasn't even close enough that they would even be a threat. Maero had the boat going at a rather fast speed that they arrived at a dock in no time, with Maero stopping the boat.

"Okay, we're here, follow me," Maero said.

Vince and Carlos climbed out of the boat and onto the dock with Maero leading the way. They walked a bit until they found some red trucks with some gold and white as part of the paint-jobs and tribal symbols on them. The trucks ranged from Alaskans to Legions to Compensators to even Swindles. Suddenly, Vince remembered dealing with four Brotherhood members at Tee'N'Ay. He even dealt with some of them on drug-dealing runs for a guy named Richie who worked as a baggage handler at Wardill Airport and also getting some women for a massage parlor in Chinatown and Little Shanghai.

A man sitting on an oil drum looked up and saw Maero and fist-bumped him, all the while Vince and Carlos looked around. This place was right by the docks, with BPS trailers and crates nearby, as well as a mound of rounds or at least broken pieces of concrete.

"So here we are," Maero said.

"Jesus, it's like a coked-up sideshow," Carlos said.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Maero said.

A Brotherhood member stood next to an Alaskan and watched as the two Saints walked with Maero, as if he was slightly suspicious.

"Aren't you worried about being in the open?" Vince said.

"People know to stay away," Maero said.

The three approached a large Atlasbreaker monster truck, as someone was working on it.

"How's my truck coming along?" Maero said to the mechanic.

The mechanic looked up at Maero. This man was Asian of Chinese descent with a red jumpsuit and some facial hair, as well as a red streak at the front of his hair. Vince looked at him and took a closer look, drawing attention to Carlos to turn to glance at his mentor and boss.

"It'll be ready for the competition," the mechanic said.

"Thanks, Donnie," Maero said. The mechanic was Donnie, formerly of the Westside Rollerz.

"You know that guy?" Carlos said.

"I'll tell you later," Vince said.

The two Saints followed Maero inside. It was a warehouse with a lot of graffiti on the walls, with some Brotherhood symbols, such as their logo and also a wolf, which was their gang's insignia, as well as girly posters in other parts of the interior. Inside what looked like their personal tattoo shop, Matt was sitting and practicing guitar while Jessica stood there. She looked up and saw Maero.

"You're back!" Jessica said and ran to Maero and jumped onto him. He hugged her and they kissed.

"Come on, did you expect anything less?" Maero said and then handed his girlfriend a wad of cash.

Jessica looked over at the two guests. "Hi, I'm Jessica."

Vince shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Hey, I'm Carlos," Carlos said and shook Jessica's hand as well.

"I'm still Jessica," she said. "You know, you remind me of my old house cleaner."

Carlos looked down as soon as she said that, as if he was insulted. Vince looked up and away, like he was a bit appalled at what she just said. Even Maero and Matt looked at her in a way of saying, "not funny."

"I'm kidding," Jessica said to Carlos as she walked with Maero and told her boyfriend that she was only kidding about that.

"Babe, you want to count the cash?" Maero said.

"Sure," Jessica said.

Matt looked up and had stopped his guitar practice as Maero looked at him.

"Yo, Matt, you ready to work?" Maero said.

Matt approached the counter.

"Hey, aren't you the guitarist for the Feed Dogs?" Carlos said, to which Matt responded with a "rock on" hand gesture.

"Don't encourage him" Jessica said.

"Listen, lady, you guys met at one of my concerts, so I don't want to hear it," Matt said.

Maero sat in the chair, ready to be inked, as Matt rolled up the ink and tattoo gun.

"Don't you think you have enough tattoos?" Carlos said.

"Brother, I got a lot of canvas left," Maero said. "So let's get back to business. The Brotherhood is about to come into something big and I think the Saints are going to want to get in on the ground floor."

"So what's the offer?" Vince said.

"20-80," Maero said.

"I'm assuming I get the 80," Vince said.

"Yeah, sure you do," Maero said with sarcasm in his voice. The sarcasm was done in such a way that showed that he looked down on this man. What was odd about this was that he called for a meeting in a civil fashion, only to insult him. Was it because they were at the Brotherhood's own stomping grounds? Who knows?

Vince glared at this. "You really expect me to take 20 and say thanks."

"On your hands and fucking knees," Maero said.

Vince glared some more. "Is this a joke? I used to own…"

"'Used to' is right," Maero said. "Time has passed you by. Now you're a has-been with some burn scars."

"I suggest you shut the fuck up before I…," Vince said.

"You're kidding me, right?" Maero said.

"Hey, man, be cool," Matt said.

"So let me get this straight, you come to me and want to make a deal, and insult me like I'm nothing?" Vince said. "You have to remember that I fucked up the Carnales, the Rollerz, and the Vice Kings all those years ago."

"Yeah, I remember," Maero said. "But you got blown the fuck up and in a coma for five years."

In the back of Vince's mind, he knew that the Saints were still starting back up and had little territory to control. Whether it was Old Stilwater, the unofficial underground turf, as well as the underground caverns, they still controlled those areas. But what he was going through was just uncalled for.

"You really think that a couple of washed-up bangers like you and Gat have a chance against the Brotherhood?" Maero said.

Insulted at all of this, the only thing Vince could respond with was, "We'll see about that. Let's go, Carlos."

Carlos looked up at Vince with so much confusion. However, Vince stopped along the way.

"Just one more thing, if I had taken down the Ronin or the Sons of Samedi before meeting with you, what exactly would your offer be?" Vince said.

Maero stood there in silence, as Matt was getting ready to put another tattoo on his friend, while Jessica looked on with a bit of a glare. Vince said nothing and just walked away with Carlos.

Jessica turned towards Maero. "Honey, do you want me to have someone take care of them?"

"No, they'll be dead soon enough," Maero said, as Matt started to draw a tattoo on Maero's arm.

* * *

As soon as Vince and Carlos got outside in the front and walked off, Carlos looked at his leader.

"What was up back there?" Carlos said. "You couldn't take Maero's offer?"

"I know it's a little small and I know that we don't have much an influence," Vince said. "But I will make that motherfucker know and understand that I'm not one to be fucked with."

"Come on, Vince," Carlos said. "I know the Saints aren't what they once were, but we could have had allies in the war against the Sons of Samedi and the Ronin."

"You have to understand," Vince said. "He didn't have to actually say shit for us to know that he would have called us 'washed-up' even if we had taken down the Ronin or the Sons of Samedi first, or even both of them. Right now, all we need is to find a way to fuck with them, as well as focus on the others."

Carlos looked down and sighed. "Okay. We got this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you saw, I mixed a stronghold bit with this. I never understood why the cops were after you in the game, so I wanted to put my own spin on this. Don't expect too much of the stronghold bits because I would mainly mention them in passing, but not so much do chapters based on them, unless I find a reason to.
> 
> As for the meeting at the Brotherhood's hideout, I wanted to make a mention about the logic of the game. Seeing as how in this one, as well my story on the first game, and in some ways my story on the third game that I am mixing things up a bit, it's been argued that some people chose to do the Brotherhood first. You could do the storylines in any way you want to, but even you could see how unfair it can get if you take down the Sons of Samedi and/or Ronin first.
> 
> Next up, Vince decides to hit up Stilwater University to take down some pushers. Stay tuned.


	7. Got Dust, Will Travel

It had been a day since the meeting with Maero. What could have been a civil agreement turned ugly the moment when not only Maero offered a small cut of the action, but also insulted Vince and Carlos, as well as the Saints in general. If Maero had been a lot more civil and explained the reasoning in a calmer manner, then maybe things would have turned out better. For all Vince knew, Maero could have proved to be a good ally in the fight against the Sons of Samedi and the Ronin.

At the moment, Vince wanted to place focus on the other gangs. He had Carlos look at some other info on the Brotherhood, but couldn't find much. Pierce, on the other hand, was doing his best at looking into what the Ronin was involved in, especially in the northern parts of Stilwater.

Vince sat at the bottom of the staircase of the Saints' hideout. It was still in its derelict state, but there will be work to be done soon. He got out a Vice 9 and loaded the pistol with a magazine and cocked the gun, like he was ready to do some damage on any gangs soon.

"Hey, I got you a present," a female voice said. Vince looked up and Shaundi approaching him with what appeared to be a light bulb in her hand.

"A light bulb, just what I always wanted," Vince sarcastically said.

"Come on, you think I'd just give you a light bulb?" Shaundi said and then smashed the light bulb against the railing of the stairwell.

"A face-shredder, just what I always wanted," Vince said with the same sarcasm as before.

"Smoke this," Shaundi said, putting in some kind of substance inside the bulb and lit it with a lighter.

"Ever hear of using a pipe?" Vince said.

"Pipes cost money," Shaundi said. "Money that can be used for drugs or shoes, or even fixing up this place."

Shaundi took a hit and passed the bulb over to Vince. Though he didn't take a hit, he smelled the substance with the smoke coming out of the bulb.

"Smells good, what is that stuff?" Vince said.

"It's the Sons of Samedi's number one product, they call it Loa Dust," Shaundi said.

"But you smoke it," Vince said.

"They suck at marketing, what can I say?" Shaundi said. "The point is this shit is all over campus. I mean, frats are buying it by the pound. If we get enough of the stuff, we might find out how to make it ourselves."

"And then we sell it for cheaper and steal their market," Vince said.

"Exactly, I had some of the others try it out," Shaundi said. "I even had Carlos try it. Pierce even tried when it took some convincing. It can make us some money."

"How much stuff are we talking?" Vince said.

"I don't know, 3 pounds?" Shaundi said. "Two for science, one for the weekend?"

"I can live with that," Vince said. "So you said that we can find this shit at the university, huh?"

"Yeah, and get this, they have dealers in the frat areas and near the observatory," Shaundi said.

"Looks like I am going to fuck up their business," Vince said. "Carlos!"

Carlos looked up as he sat at a table with some other fellow gang members. "Yeah, Boss?"

"What do you say we take a little ride to Stilwater U?" Vince said.

"I'm down, I guess I can help out," Carlos said.

"Okay, let's get going," Vince said as those were ready to leave the hideout.

"Hold on, one more thing," Shaundi said. "Listen, when you get to Stilwater U, be careful when you're taking on the Sons of Samedi."

"You don't have to tell me in case we were to get shot out there," Vince said.

"They're not just gang bangers, these guys are out of their damn mind," Shaundi said. "For God's sake, they're named after the vodoun lord of the dead."

"Voodoo? Don't tell me you believe in that shit," Vince said.

"Just be careful, okay?" Shaundi said.

"Don't worry, me and Carlos will handle some guys slanging dope to the Skeeter fans," Vince said.

Vince and Carlos continued to go up the stairs and went all the way to the main entrance to leave the hideout. Once they were outside, the purple Compton was parked in front of the mission and they both got in the car. Vince put on the radio to The Mix 107.77, as a female caller with a familiar voice asked the DJ, Darius Masters to play "Sister Christian" from Night Ranger, causing Vince to shut the radio off.

"What's the plan?" Carlos said.

"Shaundi told me about some dealers that are pushing that shit she showed me," Vince said. "I'm going to take their stash."

"You think it will be that easy?" Carlos said.

"You're my lookout guy," Vince said. "If you see some guys in green, holler."

"I will," Carlos said.

Vince drove the car from the mission to the university. They had gone all the way to the west side of Stilwater. What was funny to him was that they crossed Sommerset, an area the Brotherhood ran, while the Sons of Samedi ran the university area. With the car being purple, suddenly some Swindles and Legions started rolling down the street as the Compton drew their attention.

"Hey, man," Carlos said. "Remember yesterday what happened with Maero? I think he's trying to get them to follow us."

"We're heading into another territory," Vince said. "Besides, right now we need to focus on the Sons of Samedi. We'll deal with the Brotherhood later."

Carlos sat there with a look of unease. He was still new at this whole gang lieutenant stuff. He felt that he needed to step up a bit, but Vince had him there as his lookout for any dealers. It was only daytime. Students walked around the campus neighborhood, as well as the campus itself. Carlos looked around for any people in green, maybe carrying weapons because drug dealers often had to be packing heat for protection.

"Do you see anything?" Vince said.

"Not yet," Carlos said. "Maybe we should check more into the campus town."

Vince turned right onto a street between Brown's Nutty Coffee and the Stilwater University Arena, where it hosts some demolition derbies and some other campus events. He went northbound and made a left on a street where some businesses were. Carlos took another look outside the window.

"I see something," Carlos said.

Vince looked through the windshield and saw some people dressed in green. They were all male and African-American, or even Afro-Caribbean as this gang was stated to be.

"Got to be them," Vince said and hit the brakes and put the car in park. He got out a couple of automatic Kobra pistols. Carlos got out his Vice 9 pistol.

They both got out. Vince and Carlos wasted little time in dropping them like flies before they could even get a shot on them. With the Saints starting up again, it was like they weren't a threat. Vince had automatic pistols and two of them dropped quickly, while Carlos shot as much as he could. He had experience with a gun, but not a lot. He was able to get a few shots on one of them until he went down and fired a few more to the last one until the magazine was emptied. Thankfully, that guy was down after the last bullet.

"Okay, now we need to see who is holding the stash," Vince said.

Carlos looked at him like this was crazy. All four members lied there in pools of their own blood. Though he shot a couple of them, the idea of searching the clothing of dead bodies was crazy enough. Carlos looked at the bodies, while Vince went ahead and searched them. He trembled at the sight of having to put his hands on one of the corpses, until he saw a bag lying right next to one of them.

"Hey, Boss, I found a stash," Carlos said.

"Pick it up, let's take it for ourselves," Vince said.

Carlos went ahead and picked up the bag and put it in his pant pocket. The two ran back to the Compton. Vince put the car in drive and they were off to check the observatory area.

As soon as they hit the area, it was the same process as before. Vince put the car in park and they got out and down a flight of stairs as there were a few guys in green in that area, along with students. The two raced down the stairs and Carlos saw a Caucasian male in green, likely a member of the Sons of Samedi. He quickly drew his pistol, which he had reloaded and shot the man in the back but only hit his shoulder. Just then, several civilians scattered on out of there as they didn't want to be caught in any crossfire, and some even dropped to the ground to avoid any gunfire.

Like before, wanting to make this quick and easy, Vince used his Kobra pistols and just fired some shots at a man in green that stood in a tunnel under the observatory. Carlos dropped the other man as two more shots turned out to be fatal. Farther up ahead from them was another white man wearing green standing on top of a ground with a symbol, likely the university's insignia. Both Saints fired at the man. Blood came out of his chest, stomach, right leg, and left shoulder and he dropped, along with a baggie with the stash. Vince went to go pick it up, but to his right near a planter with bushes and a tree, as well as benches, another man wearing green loaded a T3K Urban. Carlos figured that the Samedi member was ready to flank Vince. It didn't matter how up to speed he was with the shooting, he was not going to let his boss, mentor, and friend go down.

BANG! BANG! Carlos let out two shots, one hitting the man near his chest and hitting him in the neck, causing blood to spurt out of it and then he fell to the ground. Vince looked to his right and then behind him with Carlos holding his gun and was at a complete stand-still.

"Thank you, Carlos," Vince said.

"No problem, Boss," Carlos said. Vince was now being called Boss. Maybe he was starting to like being called that.

Vince got out his Ill Wireless phone to make a call to Shaundi. "Hey, Shaundi, I got the dust."

 _"You got great timing,"_ Shaundi said. _"I just got a tip that a dealer named Mark Gabby is slinging near by. This guy brings in a lot of money for the Samedi. Taking him out should hurt them pretty bad."_

"Got it, I'll look for him," Vince said. "How do I find him?"

 _"Word has it that he drives a green Wellington,"_ Shaundi said.

"On it," Vince said. "Carlos, let's move."

Carlos followed Vince up the stairs and quickly got into the Compton. Now they have to look for the green Reaper. They rolled around the university area some more. The Sons of Samedi ran the area. They mostly saw some green Stilettos and Churchills rolling around. Shaundi mentioned that he drove a Wellington, a station wagon.

"Could that be the guy we're looking for?" Carlos said. Vince looked up and saw that particular vehicle rolling around up ahead on a road near a building that likely had classrooms.

Vince hit the gas hard and merged onto the opposite lane. He stepped on the gas some more until he got closer and swerved onto the other lane, causing the Wellington to brake hard and tip over a bit. Vince made a quick u-turn and BOOM! The Compton rear-ended the Wellington.

Both he and Carlos were fine and quickly got out of the car. Vince towards the driver's side and quickly opened the door and pulled out a Caucasian male, probably in his mid-20s, wearing a green T-shirt with denim shorts and a green rag on his head.

"Are you Mark Gabby?" Vince said.

"Who wants to know?" Mark said. "Yeah, that's me. Who the fuck are you?"

"Somebody who's about to take over your business," Vince said and poked the gun's barrel right to the man's chest and let out three shots to it. Carlos looked inside the car and found more of the Loa Dust in there and picked it up. Meanwhile, Mark Gabby's body slowly slid to the ground with blood smearing over the door to the backseat.

Carlos carried the drugs with him as he and Vince walked back to their car. Vince got out his phone again and called Shaundi.

"I took that fool out, Carlos and I got the drugs," Vince said.

 _"Good times,"_ Shaundi said. _"Meet me at Apollo's in Sommerset. Bring me the dust there, and I can start working on our little science project."_

"We'll meet you there," Vince said.

As they drove off, some other men, as well as women in green ran up and looked on. Some of their fellow soldiers and dealers were wiped out, as well as one of their main dealers, as they saw his body laid out in the street next to his car.

It wasn't long until Vince and Carlos pulled up to Apollo's. Shaundi came out with a box full of donuts.

"Whoa, you got a lot of donuts there, Shaundi," Vince said.

"Hey, I got the munchies and it was either this, Freckle Bitch's, or Phuc Mi Phuc Yue," Shaundi said. "I wanted something sweet. Take me back to the hideout and we'll get started."

"May I have one?" Carlos said.

"Sure, I got a lot here," Shaundi said and passed a donut to Carlos. "Want one, Vince?"

"Not right now, maybe later," Vince said. "How did you get here?"

"I got a ride," Shaundi said. "I was pretty stoned. I told one of the guys that you and Carlos were close and that maybe you could give me a lift back to the hideout."

"Okay, I get it," Vince said.

Man, how does she eat like that and not gain a pound? Vince thought.

They were on their way back, while some red trucks and motorcycles that were parked had some people look on at them. It seemed that the Saints were upsetting more people in Stilwater now.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the streets between Shivington and Sunnyvale Gardens, a green and black Hounfor rolled around. The Hounfor was a custom-made limousine that had a look similar to a hearse.

Inside, an Afro-Caribbean man with a bald head sat in the very back wearing a white suit with a green shirt and some chains. He lit up a cigar and started to smoke it. This man was known as The General. The limousine had guns mounted on the walls for decoration.

The other two men in the vehicle were another Afro-Caribbean man with dreadlocks and a black suit with a green shirt, and a Rastafarian cap that had a hole in it to show his dreads. This man was known as Mr. Sunshine. He sat in the seat in the middle of the vehicle.

The other man was a Caucasian man in his mid-20s wearing glasses, a green T-shirt, and jeans, along with dreadlocks and a Rastafarian hat as well. This man was known as Veteran Child. He sat near the front cab of the limo.

"Gentlemen, how was business today?" The General said with a Caribbean accent.

"Here's today's take," Veteran Child said passing the money to Mr. Sunshine, who then passed it to the General. The General looked at the stack of money and moved his hand a bit, like something seemed irregular about it.

"There are many singles where 50s should be," the General said.

"Yeah, about that," Veteran Child said. "I couldn't get a hold of some of my guys."

"These men steal from the General?" The General said.

"No, I'm not saying they're stealing," Veteran Child said.

Mr. Sunshine looked right at the General.

"Yo, Papa Shango, I'm talking to the General," Veteran Child said to Mr. Sunshine, who then turned his attention towards Veteran Child.

"On the streets, you may be a popular DJ, Veteran Child," Mr. Sunshine said with a thick Caribbean accent. "But when you're in this car, you'd do well to remember your place."

"My place?" Veteran Child said.

"My friends, please, be civil," The General said. "Veteran Child, look into the matter of the missing money. If one of your bag boys is indeed alive, take one of his hands. I doubt he will be late again. If he is not alive, I think we have a greater problem."

"You want me to cut off some dude's hand?" Veteran Child said.

"If he stole from me, he needs to learn," The General said.

"Yeah, that makes, um, sense," Veteran Child said.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Sunshine said.

"No, I mean, it's no problem, I got this," Veteran Child said.

On the inside, Veteran Child felt he was in over his head. It was clear to him that Mr. Sunshine didn't approve of his presence in the gang. The General probably didn't think too much of him but was being professional in the matter. If only they knew what really happened and they were about to find out soon enough what happened with Veteran Child's dealers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this one. I know I keep mentioning this, but like I've stated before, I'm doing a little mixing up in my versions of the missions. Ergo, why I had Carlos join in on this. I'm also bringing to light about his lack of experience in the gang life.
> 
> I will note that I barely found out that Baron Samedi was actually a folklore legend and until finding out about this, I mainly knew of the henchman from the James Bond movie, "Live and Let Die." I will note that the character was inspiration for the wrestler named Papa Shango, whom Veteran Child called Mr. Sunshine. Papa Shango was a character in WWE (then known as WWF) where he was a voodoo priest. Of course, the wrestler who played that character was best known as The Godfather much later on. Just thought I'd mention that. Seeing as some of the creators of Saints Row were wrestling fans, especially as seen in SR3, I'm not surprised that they made a reference to that.
> 
> Next up, another jailbreak! Stay tuned.


	8. Unlikely Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I sort of changed my mind. Like in my story for SR3, I will be including some interludes to help the story a bit. This will be a prelude to the next one. In fact, I posted two chapters. Enjoy!

After meeting with his two superiors, Veteran Child set out to go look for any of his guys around the campus. Usually two of them would be around a certain area, especially with one of them handling matters in an alley in the town area, probably for fraternities to get high on Loa Dust.

He was dropped off by the driver of The General's limo in Stilwater University. How he would have to get back would be anybody's guess, although he could get a ride from his fellow Sons of Samedi members back to the building where the Gen X studio was, which was in the northern parts of Stilwater near downtown. That was where he had his Topher van parked, which had a psychedelic paint-job, but more in Rastafarian patterns, rather than typical tye-dye patterns.

Right near the big building in the center of the university area, he noticed an outline of a body and some bloodstains on the ground, like someone had been killed in the middle of the street and what looked like a damaged Wellington.

 _Shit, was Mark killed?_ Veteran Child thought. It wasn't long until a green Danville pulled up with a black woman in a green crop top and short shorts and a black man with a fedora hat, black vest, black pants, and a green shirt got out.

"Relax, guys, it's just me," Veteran Child said.

"Oh, Veteran Child," the female member said with a Caribbean accent. "We thought you were someone else."

"Sorry about that, we will be on our way," the male member said, also with a Caribbean accent.

"No, wait, stop," Veteran Child said. "I hadn't heard from any of my guys. Do you know what happened to them?"

"Can't say that I do, rasta," the male member said. "Some of our men and women saw some guys in purple around here."

"We found the bodies at the observatory," the girl said. "But nobody say nothing to us, ya dig?"

"Wait, did you say purple?" Veteran Child said.

"That's what we heard, but we only came by a little while ago, ya hear?" the guy said.

"Did you check the bodies of any of my guys for any of their stashes?" Veteran Child said.

"We couldn't find anybody," the girl said. "All we found were blood and outlines of the bodies."

"Wait, bodies?" Veteran Child said. "You mean to tell me that all of my guys are dead?"

"That's what we believe, brotha," the guy said.

"I can't fucking believe this," Veteran Child said.

On the plus side, he didn't have to resort to cutting off some guy's hand. It was as if he wondered if he was in over his head in his involvement in this gang and he hadn't been in the life for too long. He mostly got involved to score some drugs and to do some dealing, but also had his career in being a radio host on Gen X 98.0 and also being a DJ at the On Track nightclub. But at the same time, he knew what the General and Mr. Sunshine were capable of and would probably think twice than to cross those two.

"Do you need a ride, Veteran Child?" the guy said. "I will call some of the others to give you a lift back to the studio if you'd like."

"Nah, I'm good," Veteran Child said. "I need to get some shit off my mind right now. I need to walk. I'll probably ask some others to give me a ride in a bit."

"No problem, Child," the guy said, as he and the girl got back in their car and took off.

Veteran Child walked along the sidewalk and right when he reached the gateway into the University district, he turned right and went into Sommerset. He knew he was in Brotherhood territory, but all he needed was to get his mind off stuff. When those two soldiers mentioned guys in purple, did they mean what he thinks they met? He had only been in the gang life for about a year or two up to that point, as well as pondered about a failed relationship with a female stoner, enough that he dedicated a song to her on his radio show, which was "Hate" from Plain White T's.

As he walked on the sidewalk, a red Alaskan and a red Legion pulled up alongside the road. Four people got out to approach him, wearing some red and black, or even beige clothing, as there were two men and two women who looked like punk-types and had piercings and tattoos.

"What are you doing walking around here, hippie?" One girl said, who had short and spiky blonde hair.

"Are you in the right area?" One guy said with a mohawk and ponytail.

"Guys, stop it," one guy said.

"He's cool with Maero, remember?" the girl said, who was Hispanic and had short hair with a fade.

Veteran Child looked at them with a bit of confusion and mild concern. "Yeah, yeah, Maero's a cool guy. He could tell you that we're cool."

"Oh, you're that DJ guy," the blonde girl said. "Sorry about that."

"It's cool, it's cool," Veteran Child said. "I may run with the Sons of Samedi, but I don't really get too involved in their shit. At least I try not to." He said that last part under his breath.

"It's all good, man," one of the guys said.

"Thanks, hey, listen, I got a question for you," Veteran Child said. "A couple of my fellow gang members said something about guys in purple going into the University and killing some of my guys. Did you guys see anything about guys in purple?"

All four Brotherhood members looked at each other with stern looks on their faces.

"Yeah, I think we saw them pass through here," the Hispanic girl said.

"They were the Saints," the Blonde girl said. "A bunch of washed-up has-beens."

"The Saints?" Veteran Child said. It turned out his intuition was correct. So the Saints had risen from the ashes. While they're presence was known about what had happened only a week prior, it seemed as if they were really making a mark for themselves in Stilwater.

"I see," Veteran Child said. "Thanks for telling me this, guys."

"Hold on," the main guy of their group said. "You know, if you're cool with Maero, then you're alright with us. I just wonder why you don't hang with us instead of those voodoo guys."

"Not that simple, and besides, I try not to get in too deep with the shit that they do," Veteran Child said.

"Okay, I get it," the Hispanic girl said. "Anyway, you want to ride?"

"Sure, just take me back to downtown," Veteran Child said. "My van is there."

Veteran Child climbed into the backseat of the Alaskan and the Brotherhood members gave him a ride there. Suddenly, there was an ad on the radio for Rusty's Needle, a known franchise for a tattoo shop, with Matt from the Feed Dogs advertising them. Though Veteran Child thought that Matt was an alright guy, he still was not sure about playing the Feed Dogs' music on his station because he didn't think they were that good.

Now that the Brotherhood filled him in on who caused the deaths of his dealers, it would be a good idea for The General and Mr. Sunshine to know who took them down and what should be done about them.

* * *

**ELYSIAN FIELDS**

It was getting darker, closer to dusk, and many explosions went off in the trailer park. After the final explosion, Vince felt that it was mission accomplished for bringing down the drug labs that the Sons of Samedi had in the trailer park. Shaundi had filled him in on the labs over there when he gave her a ride back to the crib. While he was at it, he also took out down a TV producer who lived in the trailer park. He killed two birds with one stone.

Suddenly, Vince received a call. "Shaundi, what's up?"

 _"Hey, Vince, come meet me at Rebadeaux in a bit,"_ Shaundi said. _"I have a plan to handle the cooking of Loa Dust. I'll tell you the rest when you get here."_

"On my way," Vince said. What was Shaundi's plan? Vince was now about to find out, especially after taking out a few dealers earlier that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will lead into the next one, which will include the jailbreak.
> 
> As for Veteran Child interacting with the Brotherhood, I wanted to make reference to the homie conversation from Saints Row IV between him and Maero. They seemed to be friends despite their standings with rival gangs.


	9. File in the Cake

Vince had made his arrival to Rebadeaux, where he saw Shaundi sitting at a bench in a gazebo with a hot dog in her hand. He looked around the place. He may roll by there quite often, but it was hard to believe that things looked different before his coma.

"Hey, what's up?" Shaundi said as she looked up and saw Vince approaching her.

"I can't believe what they've done here," Vince said.

"It's pretty classy, huh?" Shaundi said.

"Whatever, a strip club named Tee'N'Ay, that was classy," Vince said. "This shit's just tacky."

"The place is still here," Shaundi said and pointed towards the direction of said place.

Vince sighed. "Still, it's pretty damn tacky. So did you find out what was in that Loa Dust shit?"

"Science is hard," Shaundi said. "Never my best subject, but I did my best. Anyway, like I was saying, I can't work it out, but I know someone who can."

"Who?" Vince said.

"It's a woman who I met in prison," Shaundi said. "She knows more about this shit than I ever will. There's only one…"

"What's the problem?" Vince said.

"She's still in prison," Shaundi said.

"Great," Vince said caustically.

"Don't worry about it, I know you're going to break in," Shaundi said and looked towards someone who stood at the opposite end of the gazebo. "Samson, get over here."

Samson, a known explosives expert, approached them with looked like a bomb in his hands. He looked a bit different than how Vince remembered, as his hair was cut a lot shorter and was clean-shaven now.

"Hey, Shaundi, I rigged up that bomb you wa-," Samson said, but tripped mid-sentence and dropped the bomb, which slid towards Shaundi and Vince, but Samson inadvertently armed the bomb with the detonator in his hand.

"Um, you should probably hurry," Shaundi said.

"I'll make it as fast as possible," Vince said and picked up the bomb, which was on a timer.

Lucky for him, a Miami boat was near the docks. He ran with the bomb in tow and quickly got into the boat and started it up. It was on a timer for 20 minutes. He strolled on the water and crossed on the bridge. Though it was only for 20 minutes, the prison was quite a distance away. This boat, however, was fast enough to get to the prison island. He crossed two more causeway bridges.

The prison island was up ahead. There were only two problems, however.

Vince quickly called Shaundi. "Hey, Shaundi, the clock is ticking. What should I do?"

 _"Don't freak out, I got this all worked out,"_ Shaundi said. _"The prison is powered by an old generator underneath the building. Take out the generator and it's lights out for the whole island. You should be able to sneak in, no problem."_

"Where would I find the generator?" Vince said. "I only got a look of the place when Carlos helped bust my ass out."

 _"I'm getting to that, relax,"_ Shaundi said. _"Just swing around the back of the island and go in through there. It'll lead you to the generator."_

"Okay, and who is this woman I am busting out?" Vince said.

 _"Her name is Laura and…,"_ Shaundi said.

"Hold up, did you say Laura?" Vince said.

 _"Um, yeah, do you know her?"_ Shaundi said.

"I've worked with her before," Vince said. "I'm sure I will find her."

Vince sped the boat around the island to make sure there was an opening. Lo and behold, there was a cave and a dock right near it. Vince docked the boat and pulled out the bomb and carried on his side. He didn't forget to arm himself, but in this case, he had only his Kobra pistols as the guards were likely to gun him down if he was to be seen and it would be better to have automatic weapons do the job. He ran up a train track that went into the cave. It was like this cave was used for mining at one point. He was only at the prison for five years, but in all that time, he was in a coma. No time for a tour, though. He needed to set the bomb to the generator.

He ran up a stairwell and then another until he reached a door that read "DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE." He looked at the timer of the bomb. He only had slightly more than five minutes left. The door opened, the generator was in his sights. All the more reason to just set the bomb there. Vince stepped outside of the room and waited for the last few minutes before the bomb detonates.

BOOM!

He saw the blast coming out through the open door. A strange noise sounded through the atmosphere. It was clear that although the blast affected the power, it didn't affect the prison's alarm. He had to get Laura out soon.

Vince raced up the stairs, through the room where a lot of debris was shown from the explosion, and out through the door into the outside, where another stairwell was seen that led into the prison's exterior. A siren wailed, which only meant that the cops that handled matters at the prison responded. The cop car pulled up and went to a stop as two cops got out.

Vince had no choice but to take both of them down and take their car. He had to get inside the prison and into the main cell block. He raced down the hilly road and headed straight for the front gate. Many of the prison guards were out trying to find the person who set off that bomb. For all the guards knew, the person in the Five-O car was likely one of Stilwater's finest.

The moment Vince crossed in the prison's grounds, he saw a couple of guards patrolling the front entrance to the prison. Vince quickly got out of the cop car and pumped both of them with led. Considering he was an escaped fugitive, it wouldn't be a shock to him if they even so much as tried to gun him down on sight. He ran right past the bodies up the stairs towards the door to get inside, where two more guards, one male and one female stood. No time to waste as he gunned them down quickly. However, the woman guard was using a Tombstone. He quickly picked up the shotgun and went on his way.

Once inside, there was a strange echo sound coming from more from the middle of the prison. Could it be what Vince thought in that very moment? He crossed through two gates, gunning down anybody who got in his way. The sound became clearer behind the doors with the green sign above it that read "Stilwater Correctional."

One door opened, a gate was seeing on laying the floor, as if it had been broken off, as well as debris in flames. Oh, it definitely looked like a riot had gone underway.

Being that this was a co-ed prison, many male and female inmates were running around, beating up guards, as well as some even fighting each other. With the inmates keeping the guards busy, Vince ran right after them and towards a door that had the sign that read "Cell blocks" above it.

Vince quickly went up the stairs, paying no mind to any convicts and guards getting into any brawls or beat-downs. If any guard tried to shoot him, he used the Tombstone to pump shots into them. Vince kept going up the stairs until he reached a floor were cell gates were open, with one having burning debris in the doorway, with a convict standing there as he wouldn't be able to get out and right next door was another open cell with a female convict that had a gray shirt over her orange jumpsuit. This woman definitely looked familiar to Vince, as he ran right towards her.

"Laura?" Vince said.

Laura looked up and said, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Laura, ready for a grand escape?" Vince said.

"A jailbreak? How exciting!" Laura said with so much enthusiasm in her voice.

Vince led the way down the corridor to another doorway. With the riot growing more intense, it reached a point where the inmates were now armed with weapons. Lucky for Vince, he had some extra magazines in case he needed to reload his Kobras. He repeated the same process as before: shoot anybody who got in his way. All that mattered now was making the escape.

What was weird about this was that Laura didn't try to arm herself. It didn't matter, as Vince protected her with all of his might. Even when picking up SKR-7s from fallen convicts and/or guards, he had to use anything he could find. This was a matter of survival now.

They reached the main area where the holding area, and the riot was still taking place on the lower floor. Vince knew they were almost home free. Vince and Laura kept running until they finally reached the outside.

"Fuck!" Vince said.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Laura said.

"I just remembered we're on a fucking island!" Vince said. "And I'm not going to try to look for a fucking boat!"

"Playa, look over there!" Laura said pointing to her right.

Right behind three yellow poles in between the protective railing, what was getting more visible was a police helicopter on top of a helipad.

"Oh shit, yes!" Vince yelled. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

Vince and Laura ran right for the helipad. They went up the stairs and went inside. Vince started it up. He had dabbled in piloting helicopters sometime recently, but it wasn't time for a test. He wanted to get off the island as soon as possible. He put on the headset. Laura put on her headset. The propeller spun and the helicopter ascended and they were on there way.

"Thank you so much for this! I can't wait to see my husband," Laura said.

"No problem, still married to that one guy?" Vince said.

"No, I am married to someone else now," Laura said. "You might know him. He's been very supportive while I was in jail. It's really incredible."

"I might know him, huh?" Vince said. "I guess it shouldn't hurt to say hello."

"Oh, definitely," Laura said. "Some people said it was a bad idea to date your sponsor, but I say what the heck. It's love, right? He can do some favors for you if you need it."

"Right," Vince said. He couldn't believe that Shaundi knew this woman. For someone who was a suburban housewife who dealt drugs, she was always sweetheart to him. It was kind of an odd career choice for her.

"Can you drop me off at my house?" Laura said.

"Sure thing," Vince said.

It wasn't long until they reached the area of Misty Lane, which was where Laura's house was. It was already late night and Vince landed the chopper.

"Come on, I want to surprise my husband," Laura said. "I still can't get over that it's you, this is so exciting!"

"So who's your new husband?" Vince said.

"You'll see," Laura said.

"Also, you're sure you can figure out what's in the Sons' stuff?" Vince said.

As Laura got close to the door, she rang the doorbell to the front door, she said, "Don't worry, sweetie, when it comes to drugs or snicker-doodles, I'm the best."

The door opened. A man with long red dreadlocks, shirtless, a chest tattoo, a tattoo on his neck of Laura's name, and finally tye-dye pants opened the door. Vince saw him. He knew him alright. It was Tobias, another drug-dealer he worked with in the past.

"Ain't that the truth, baby?" Tobias said.

"Toby!" Laura said and jumped right towards him while Tobias hugged her.

Vince looked at them like this was kind of odd, but hey, like Laura said, this was love.

"Thanks for bringing my pumpkin-muffin back," Tobias said. "You need anything, you let me know."

"Oh, I already talked to Laura about that," Vince said.

"In that case, you mind givin' me and the wife some quality time?" Tobias said. "I'd like to have a belated conjugal before the PTA meeting. It's going to take a bit."

"Not at all," Vince said and gave them a hand signal that said, "Go ahead." He turned around and walked away while Tobias picked up Laura, who proceeded to shut the door.

It wasn't long until he reached the street. Before he got into the chopper, his phone started to ring.

"Hello, Pierce, what's up?" Vince said.

 _"Boss, you got to hear about a plan I got,"_ Pierce said. _"Remember how you want me to look at what the Ronin's got? Well, I have something I want to do."_

"I'm listening," Vince said.

 _"Okay, it's going to involve you, me, Carlos, Johnny, and Shaundi,"_ Pierce said. _"We gonna hit Poseidon's Palace."_

"Give me the details soon," Vince said. "I'm on my way back to the crib."

 _"Fo sho, Boss,"_ Pierce said.

Vince was wondering if he liked being called "Boss" now. He was the leader, so maybe this had a nice ring to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this one. A little cut and dry, but I didn't need to put in too much detail to action. It was all about the breakout and the escape.
> 
> Next up, the Saints pull off a casino heist. Stay tuned.


	10. Saint's Seven

It was a long day. Vince made his way back to the Saints' hideout in Bavogian Plaza and landed the helicopter on the helipad. He made his way down and saw Pierce standing by the front door to the mission.

"Hey, Boss, you got a minute?" Pierce said.

Vince looked rather tired. Sure, he was capable of staying up late and handling his own stuff and even going a few nights without sleep, but he needed to work his stamina a bit. He had been in a coma, after all, for the past five years. He realized that while he had the motivation in him, he wasn't quite up to speed to keep up like how he did when he first joined the Saints, and this wasn't that long since his discharge from the military.

"Sure, you said you wanted to talk about hitting Poseidon's Palace," Vince said. "What do you got for me?"

"Okay, I want all of us to pull off a score," Pierce said. "Me, you, Johnny, Shaundi, and Carlos, as well as some other boys, we gonna fuck up the Ronin."

"Well, can we talk about it tomorrow?" Vince said. "I'm fucking tired right now."

"Oh yeah, yeah, go get some rest," Pierce said. "I've been scoping shit out and I got a plan for us to do."

"Cool, we'll talk more about it in the morning," Vince said. Rather than crash at the crib, he took off to the apartment nearby. It was just a matter of time until he would get some work done in the hideout, and it will happen. However, he had the place fixed up and it didn't cost much to get it done. The moment he walked in through the door, he took off his jacket and shoes, and turned off the light and dropped onto the bed.

* * *

The next morning, he walked over to the hideout. Johnny, Carlos, and Shaundi stood there talking.

"So Pierce told me that he wanted in on this plan," Shaundi said. "I think I could help, but what does he want to do?"

"We just got to go in and see," Johnny said and looked up. "Hey, Vince, Boss, what up, man?"

It was getting to a point where Vince was getting a bit used to this title he had. Since he was the leader, it just sounded right to him.

Vince walked up and slapped dap with Carlos, Johnny, and Shaundi.

"So Pierce told us about some plan, but he didn't say shit on what he wanted to do," Carlos said.

"Let's go in and find out," Vince said. "He said that he wants to hit Poseidon's Palace."

"Isn't that a casino that the Ronin runs?" Shaundi said.

"Yeah, but nothing we can't handle, we've fucked over gangs in the past, right?" Johnny said to Vince.

"Damn right," Vince said and gave Johnny a fist bump.

Vince and the other three walked in. They went through the obstacles to get down to where they need to be.

"Man, we _really_ need to fix that elevator," Carlos said.

"I've talked to some people about getting some work done soon," Vince said. "Pretty soon, this place will look good as new."

"I wouldn't worry too much, Carlos," Johnny said. "We used to hide out in an old abandoned church."

"I heard about that place," Carlos said. "I heard it became a terrorist trap."

"It's not the same church, if that's what you're wondering," Vince said. "They built it the same, but it's not the same fucking place."

"Don't know why Pierce needed me in on this," Shaundi said. "My focus is on the Sons of Samedi."

"Just like I'm looking for stuff on the Brotherhood," Carlos said.

"Hey, we're all in this together," Vince said. "Sure, you may be assigned to your shit, but that doesn't mean neither of you can help on stuff with the other gangs."

"He's right, you know," Johnny said.

Vince and Johnny walked ahead, while Shaundi and Carlos looked at each other with a bit of confusion. They finally made it to the hallway where the doorway across the hall leads into another room. The hallway led to the stairwell that went into the main area, which was the lobby of the hotel it once was.

"Hey, y'all, come here." Pierce called for their attention from their left.

Vince led Johnny, Carlos, and Shaundi to Pierce, who sat at a desk with what looked like a model, as if he had it down on what he wanted to do.

"What's with the dollhouse?" Vince said.

"Dollhouse, my ass, this is how we gonna fuck up the Ronin," Pierce said.

"This'll be good," Johnny said with a touch of sarcasm.

"Trust me, it is," Pierce said. "I got an idea because it involves all of us."

"All of us?" Shaundi said. "I was supposed to look at stuff on the Sons of Samedi."

"I have to look at stuff for the Brotherhood," Carlos said.

"Relax," Vince said to Shaundi and Carlos. "We are all a team. You two may have your own shit to look at, but if this involves all of us, we better see what he has in store."

"Thanks, Boss," Pierce paused for a bit. "The Ronin have a stake in Poseidon's Palace. So I figure hitting their biggest money-maker is a good way to show 'em we not fucking around."

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Vince said.

"Okay, Shaundi and I will handle the power and security," Pierce said. "I got some uniforms for us to act like we're repair people so that Shaundi could try to cut the power, or maybe hack the security systems. Some of our other boys will deliver the truck. Carlos will oversee the shit go down and we all take the money."

"So where does that leave me and Johnny?" Vince said.

"Well, with the power out, you guys go in and keep your eyes open," Pierce said. "If shit gets hot, that's when you'll have to hit the Ronin."

"Shit, Pierce," Johnny said. "I know you got a plan, but don't you think it would be easier if we just go in and start shooting motherfuckers between us and the money."

"Well, I thought ahead," Pierce said. "You can use a bomb to blow up the safe. Some of our other boys will blow up the wall on the other side so that the others can load up the truck with the money and we all get the fuck out of there."

Vince looked at Pierce with intrigue. This seemed like quite a plan. At first he thought he would try to make things elaborate, but with the involvement of the others in the gang, this shouldn't be a difficult job.

"Okay, let's do this," Vince said.

* * *

**HOURS LATER…**

The job was set. It was later in the day, almost dusk. Pierce and Shaundi got the uniforms for their roles in the job. Carlos went with a couple of others to grab a Mule truck. Finally, Vince and Johnny got some ski masks and some purple and black jumpsuits to conceal their identities. All they had on were the jumpsuits, but they will wait until they mask themselves later.

Pierce had brought a van. They put on their repairman jumpsuits and took off. Carlos got into the Mule truck and drove it with the other fellow Saints in the back. All that was left was Vince and Johnny. They took off in a blue Capshaw that Vince had stolen off of someone. It was now time to do this.

"Let's get this show on the road," Vince said as he and Johnny entered the vehicle.

Vince started up the car and they were off. They got out of the parking lot and went on the road to head up the bridge.

"This will be a good plan, but I got my own ideas for the Ronin," Johnny said.

"So who is their leader?" Vince said.

"A kid named Shogo Akuji," Johnny said. "He probably spends more time on his hair than he does on his bike, but it doesn't change the fact that he's totally ruthless."

"Ruthless, huh?" Vince said. "I like the sound of that. Pierce better not be bullshitting us with this plan."

"I thought it would be better to just shoot the motherfuckers, but if he's got everyone in on it, and bombs as well, this better be good," Johnny said.

Vince drove across the bridge and crossed through Union Square and then turned onto Humbolt Park. The casino was located near the Stilwater Boardwalk. Vince went and parked the Capshaw on one side of the casino. He looked up and saw the truck park close to the front so that they could make their getaway once they were all done. Johnny looked around and saw the van pull up and park. Pierce and Shaundi were dressed as repair people.

"It's on now," Vince said. He and Johnny reached for their balaclavas and put them on.

Vince looked over at Johnny and saw that he still had his shades on.

"You don't need to wear those right now, you know," Vince said.

"Man, shut up, let's get this shit done," Johnny said. "Let's fuck up the Ronin."

"I'm right there with you," Vince said.

They went to the trunk and grabbed whichever arms they needed. Johnny grabbed the back with the explosives, as well as a Tombstone shotgun, and a GDHC pistol. Vince grabbed his Kobra pistols, as well as an AR-50 XMAC, complete with a grenade launcher. It was either that or an AR-40 Xtnd, but the AR-50 was the superior rifle. Carlos approached Vince and Johnny.

"Ready for this, Carlos?" Vince said.

"This is something more than I have imagined," Carlos said and then put on his mask. He also wore a purple and white outfit. Despite concealing their identities, the Saints weren't exactly subtle in their choice of attire for this job.

"Relax, Carlos," Johnny said. "Pierce and Shaundi will handle their shit. You and the others go handle your shit, while Vince and I will fuck up the Ronin. Besides…"

Johnny went and grabbed the bag and handed it to Carlos. "You guys are going to blow up the vault and grab the money. We will look out for any Ronin coming our way."

Though it was hard to see under the mask, Carlos had a look of worry. This crime and gang stuff was still new to him, but Vince saw that there was potential in him.

"We'll cover you, don't worry," Vince said. Carlos nodded his head and put the bag's strap over his shoulder.

Vince and Johnny stood behind Carlos and the rest of the Saints. There were two others involved. One was a white guy named Travis. The other was a Hispanic girl named Lorena. There were seven people involved. All Carlos and the other two had to do was blow up the vault and take the money.

They all walked in. Vince heard a sound in his ear.

 _"Boss, you there?"_ A voice said.

"Pierce, what's the deal?" Vince said.

 _"Shaundi's almost done with the power,"_ Pierce said. _"Get ready. We to about to fuck them up now."_

"We're ahead of you," Vince said.

They were now in the casino. The foyer near the door had a fountain with artwork depicting a mermaid on a clam. Many slot machines glowed with the lights at their stations, as well as the screens. Blackjack tables were on display, and of course there was a fountain in the center. In the back of the main area was the cashier's area with the sign reading "Poseidon's Palace" in glowing yellow letters above the windows. The walls even had waterfalls in glass windows. To top it off, it seemed like a happening place with people at the slot machines.

Several people looked up at the Saints. With them packing heat, as well as wearing masks, it dawned on them that something was up. And suddenly, the lights in the casino just went off. The slot machines, the lights in the layouts, everything, and it was now time to make their move.

Vince and Johnny got their guns out and pointed them at everyone. Many of the casino's clientele quickly raised their arms, as well as lied on the ground, cowering in fear.

"Okay, everyone, this is a fucking raid," Vince said. "You try some shit, you will get blown the fuck up. We're not fucking around here."

"You heard the man," Johnny said and pointed his GDHC at any blackjack dealers, casino staff, and patrons.

"Hey, go check on Carlos and them," Johnny said as he leaned towards Vince.

"I don't know, what if some shit goes down right now?" Vince said.

"Hey, you know who you're talking to, right?" Johnny said. "I'll blast any motherfucker who steps to me."

"Right, I'll be back," Vince said.

Vince walked away towards the cashier area. Carlos was seen holding one of the cashiers at gunpoint, while Travis was putting the bomb against the door to the safe. Meanwhile, Lorena held another cashier at gunpoint, except she had this person, who was a woman in a human shield position.

"Okay, we're ready to blow this fucker up," Travis said.

"Everyone, get out of here, now," Vince said.

Vince led everyone out the door. Carlos still held his Vice 9 against the man's head. Lorena dragged the female cashier with the NR4 to her head. Travis was the last to get out with the detonator in hand.

"Okay, blow that shit up," Vince said. Without any warning, Travis pushed the button. KABOOM! The blast made everyone in the casino where Johnny was drop to the floor, if they weren't already there. They weren't killed, but the blast certainly startled them.

"Okay, you two," Vince said to Travis and Lorena. "Go and grab the money. We got these two."

Lorena shoved the female cashier towards Vince, who pointed one of his Kobras to the woman's head. The female cashier was already sweating and trembling from all of this. The same could be said about the male cashier.

"Please don't kill us," the male cashier said.

"If you cooperate with us, we'll let you live," Vince said. "But if you think about grabbing that fucking radio you got, you'll leave us no choice."

"I won't do anything, I swear!" the female cashier said.

"Me neither," the male cashier said, panting at every moment he breathed.

It wasn't long until the same bag from before that carried the bomb was now full of money. Travis and Lorena got out of the cashier room. The safe's door was seen on the floor.

"Okay, we're done here," Vince said and whacked the pistol against the poor woman's head. Carlos did the same to the man. They lied on the floor, cowering at what just happened. They weren't killed, but this was something that they did not expect.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Vince said.

Vince led the other three Saints out into the main casino floor, only to see that some damage had occurred. Some bodies of civilians were left on the ground, as well as damaged blackjack tables and slot machines. Johnny was seen covering himself near some slot machines himself.

"What the hell?" Vince said.

"I told you I got this," Johnny said.

However, several men and women in yellow and black jackets were seen firing towards Johnny.

"Man, fuck this," Vince said. "Carlos, you and the other two go and load up the truck. Gat and I got this."

"You got it," Carlos said.

Carlos led Travis and Lorena towards the front but had to go towards the farthest wall to avoid the gunfire. Some of the people in the yellow and black jackets with dragon symbols were Japanese, and some were also white. They were the Ronin, alright. Johnny popped out of cover and fired a shot from his Tombstone, leaving a female Ronin member flipping over from the impact of the buckshot, as well as leaving multiple bloodied wounds on her chest.

Vince fired 15 shots from his AR-50 towards any Ronin member. While he did notice some civilian casualties, it was likely that they were caught in the crossfire. Whether it was from Johnny or the Ronin, or both, it was uncertain.

 _"Hey, Boss,"_ Pierce said through Vince's earpiece.

"What's up?" Vince said. "Where are you guys?"

 _"Shaundi and I have headed out after the blackout,"_ Pierce said. _"Where are you guys?"_

"We're pinned down by the Ronin," Vince said. "But Johnny and I got this."

 _"Let us know when you're out and we'll see about where we take the money,"_ Pierce said.

"Gotcha," Vince said.

More Ronin kept coming out, strapped, ready to shoot the two Saints in the casino. Vince and Johnny were outnumbered, but they both know that they have been in situations like this.

"Man, fuck this," Vince said as he saw that five Ronin members all ran in formation, like they were ready to surround Vince and Johnny. There was no time, Vince had to act fast. So Vince just popped out of the cover with his AR-50, pointing right at the Ronin members, looking like they were ready to pump Vince full of lead.

"I don't think so, assholes," Vince said and quickly fired a grenade right towards the Ronin members and as soon as the grenade went right in front of one of the members, BOOM! The Ronin members were sent flying. Some surviving civilians and staff in the casino took a quick peek and saw what was going on.

Johnny kept firing at any other Ronin member who got in his way. He even shot a male Ronin member in the head with the Tombstone, breaking a chunk off of his head as blood and brain matter went into the carpet. He even fired one more shot towards another Ronin member with his GDHC in the chest, blowing the person away. That was definitely a powerful pistol he used.

"Come on, let's get the fuck out of here!" Vince said to Johnny.

"I was done, anyway," Johnny said.

Vince and Johnny raced through the foyer and out the door to the casino. Carlos was in the cab of the truck. Vince raced towards the driver's side, while Johnny went into the passenger's side, and Carlos sat in the middle. Travis and Lorena were in the back of the truck. Vince started up the truck.

"What took you guys so long?" Carlos said.

"The Ronin, that's what took us," Johnny said.

"But we managed to fuck them up a bit," Vince said.

"I heard about these guys," Carlos said. "Some of them are from Japan."

"We'll talk later, we got company," Vince said as he looked around and saw a police car headed for them with the siren wailing.

"Well they called the cops, big surprise there," Johnny said.

"You would think they would have their own people come at us," Carlos said.

Vince said nothing and just hit the gas a little harder. He knew that this truck was no racer, but he had to make do with what he had.

"What a score we just pulled," Vince said.

"Yeah, but before we starting buying new cars and expensive shit, we better hide and then clean this money," Johnny said.

"Right now let's just hide it," Vince said. "Then we'll we worry about cleaning it."

"Don't worry about it, we'll take it to Eesh's," Johnny said.

"Um, not if Aisha will be cool with that," Vince said.

"Relax, she'll be fine," Johnny said.

"Hold up," Carlos said. "Did you say Aisha? Are you talking about the singer? Isn't she dead?"

"Shhhh, Carlos," Johnny said. "I will tell you the story one day. You may want to hear it."

"Looking forward to it," Carlos said.

Vince pulled out his phone and called Pierce. "Hey, Pierce, we're taking the money somewhere to hide it. I will let you and Shaundi know what the next plan for it is."

 _"Fo sho, Boss, hit me up later,"_ Pierce said.

It wasn't just the cops after them, however. Several Ronin members chased them down on Tetsuos and Kenshins, which were racer motorcycles that had yellow and black paint-jobs. Even on the paint-job there was that same dragon insignia. There was also a Hayate Z70 and Wakazashi with the same color scheme on them. It was definitely more Ronin. But Vince did what he could to try to avoid them. Through one of the rearview mirrors, Vince noticed that the cop car was sidetracked, as well as the Ronin's vehicles managed to be no longer in his view. Whether he managed to evade them through sheer luck or speed, it didn't matter except that they were no longer on him.

They were now in Misty Lane. Vince drove the truck towards Aisha's house with her Zomkah parked out in front. As soon as the truck parked, everyone got out. Johnny went to the back and got the bag of money.

"Listen, Vince," Johnny said. "I will stash the money somewhere."

"Cool," Vince said. "Then we'll see about covering our tracks. I will call Pierce and Shaundi for a little meeting to see what else we can do about the money and the Ronin."

"Not a problem," Johnny said. "I may need to go inside before Aisha kills me."

"Man, you're so fucking whipped, man," Vince said.

"Shut up," Johnny said and went inside.

"What a job we pulled, Boss," Travis said.

"Hell yeah," Vince said. "Anyway, let's get back to the crib. We got to talk about what else we can do."

They took the truck back to the hideout. As soon as they got out into the parking lot, Vince approached Carlos.

"Hey, you did fine back there," Vince said. "But I want to know something. Have you been looking into stuff for the Brotherhood?"

"I've been trying, but after that shit went down at their hideout, it hasn't been easy," Carlos said. "You also brought be along to deal with the Samedi yesterday."

"I know, but we still got to look at what they're into," Vince said. "But I am still wondering."

"Hey, you never told me about that one guy Donnie," Carlos said. "What happened?"

"Let's just say that we've crossed paths in the past," Vince said. "He used to be with the Westside Rollerz."

"The Rollerz, I heard about those guys," Carlos said. "Some small time guys, right?"

"That would be an understatement," Vince said. "Anyway, let's go grab some Freckle Bitch's. I'm hungry."

"Me too," Carlos said.

* * *

Inside a room, a young Japanese man in his 20s was being massaged by an attractive Asian woman in a bikini and a cowboy hat while he sat in a chair. Was she a masseuse or a prostitute? Maybe both? It was uncertain. This young man had his hair frosted with blonde streaks and spiked and had a cigarette in his mouth. He wore a black and yellow jacket with dragon symbols on it, along with a yellow button-down shirt and black pants. This young man was Shogo Akuji, the leader of the Ronin.

This room had a Japanese theme to it with the symbolism and a door that looked like a grid. There was even a big flat-screen TV on a wall. Right in front of Shogo stood a taller and muscular man with a bald head, and rather than a jacket, he had a vest with the same color patterns and symbolism. This man was Jyunichi, Shogo's right-hand man and personal enforcer.

Jyunichi talked to Shogo in Japanese as Shogo was being massaged.

["Mr. Akuji won't be happy to find about this casino incident,"] Jyunichi said.

"Jyunichi, you need to relax," Shogo said.

["Because it will be impossible to hide this from Mr. Akuji?"] Jyunichi said.

"My father won't find out about the casino," Shogo said as he held the casino in his hand.

["It won't go as pleasantly as that,"] Jyunichi said.

"Don't question me, Jyunichi," Shogo said. "And we're in America, speak English."

The masseuse ceased massaging Shogo and a knock was heard at the door, causing Jyunichi to pull out one of his katanas from the sheath.

"A little jumpy today?" Shogo said as he walked towards the door and slid it open. It looked like a servant stood there with a cart with food and a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice. The servant pushed the cart into the room and bowed to Jyunichi and went outside the door with a hand gesture implying that he awaited a tip, only for Shogo to close the door on his face.

Shogo walked towards the bucket of champagne and said to Jyunichi to hand him his sword. Shogo just snatched the weapon from his enforcer's hands and used it to cut open the bottle and put the sword into the floor with the tip of the blade going into the carpet.

"Listen, Jyunichi," Shogo said. "I know you're having a hard time…adjusting to the way I run things here."

Shogo looked towards the woman in the room and signaled to her to come to him as he sat in the chair, legs spread.

Shogo continued, "But how about you let me deal with my father, and you deal with whatever the fuck I tell you to deal with."

The woman went ahead and unbuttoned Shogo's pants, as well as unbuttoned the bottom buttons of his shirt as she was ready to go to town…down there.

"Of course, Shogo," Jyunichi said and bowed to Shogo.

"Excellent," Shogo said and took a puff from his cigarette.

Jyunichi quickly left the room as he figured what was about to go down in there between Shogo and that woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you've noticed, I changed things up in this version as opposed to how the game's version went down. The mission in the game was kind of a "take that" to the casino heist in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with their approach being what Pierce was talking about. The funny thing is that the same year SR2 came out, GTA IV came out and had a heist mission that was less about the score and more about shooting and evading the authorities. Even then, GTA: Vice City had a heist mission that was initially about gathering a crew and pulling off the score. This didn't need to go into the route of GTA V's heists, either.
> 
> I also wanted to have Shaundi and Carlos involved in the heist, even though Pierce and Shaundi didn't really take part in the gunfight or taking the money.
> 
> Next up, the Saints decide to find ways to cover their tracks. Stay tuned.


End file.
